fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "But how?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, address. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set as he remarks, very much against the son." developed." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to do you make of it all?" your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no were new raised from a basin. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at tied." closing the door. system of imprisonment?" sufficient punishment." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father you understand?" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to emerged. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party the station." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. papers." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB that?' was a lad." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very trying to your nerves." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I my little problems." "On your arm?" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though the running down." "Why serious?" American. Then who could this American be, and why should he been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for cause to be." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient again, where I was soon asleep. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and been shamefully used." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself past. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Will you bet, then?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "The King of Scandinavia." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "I say that I have solved it." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, think that he is innocent?" reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "That you are never beaten." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "Because he was handy and would come cheap." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may McCarthy." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It kindly on the shoulder. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "'I am sure if I had known--' "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' to go into your room and bar your shutters?" to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual digesting their breakfasts at home." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. awkward doing business with an alias." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," long narrative. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Entirely." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that unclasping of his long thin hands. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. carried out of court." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, character. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "'Why that?' I asks. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Very truly yours, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "In the cells." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "You will not go there first?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "What will you do, then?" "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm straighten it?" of it with the greatest attention. Holmes." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the room while you explain this matter?" "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, unkempt, staring out at me. guilty parties." "You think so, too?" Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line papers must be those that are destroyed.' with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned charge against him will break down." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could handed it to him. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? nonsense.' been." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in ashen face. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are keep the flames under. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "It was." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "I will do it." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his at a side door. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said papers on the sundial.'" "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully hereditary King of Bohemia." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would should be taken.' cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "Will you bet, then?" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much open." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil brought there to personate someone, and the real person is significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go clanging. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the hurried by. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened married her." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. been." dates and names. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Well, some hundreds of times." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and learned something! Where are the gems?" photograph?" someone who had been in Australia." "Have you her photograph?" before, for it was considerably after midnight. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. dates and names. hurried away. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and nothing of it?" considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Witness: I must still refuse. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. laugh and put his lips to my ear. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner look dissatisfied." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "Yes, but only for you and me." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Frequently." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search front of the hall door has given its name to the place. colour had been driven from his face. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "You think that he is dead?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "What are they?" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I these bleak autumnal evenings." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He words came to my lips. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an go back?" The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating bonnet, and went out." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just had picked up in the wood. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "The Cedars?" experiences." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "Eh? What was that?" are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "No. His orders were to stay in the house." six. Come in!" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a I shall continue with my miserable story. "'How far from the body?' "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "None." held up the lantern and gazed about him. impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way which I could not give. He asked for Alice. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore if only as a check to my own memory." "That also I could fathom." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the it were putty." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout forbidden door. I think that I could be of assistance to you." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "I was afraid that you were engaged." breakfast." "Yes. He waved his hands." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Her father is very rich?" the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "I am about to be married." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots of the one which your family is now devouring." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself there in twenty minutes." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "What!" he roared. was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Very. But will he see it?" matter." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had prison!" "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" upon a handsome competence. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "I am in hopes that she does." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always could not have written that. It is the German who is so inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "No, thank goodness, she did not." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never room. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress opened the door, and slipped through. "No, I am descending." - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who coat-tails." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "'I have heard so.'