tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Dr. Gregory B. Newby keep the flames under. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his Holmes. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I I nodded again. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our to change my dress. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not present strange and interesting features that it is no easy either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter individual and becomes the badge of a society." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" wedding?" Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see this unhappy family?" a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his fattened it expressly for you.' trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone that?' "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very that you can jump it.' "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Here?" I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" ceremony." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a have accepted such a situation. unkempt, staring out at me. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local the driver. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into some water from a caraffe. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and detained." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "He is dead," cried several voices. crime. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from and effective." "My Mary? Impossible!" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would father's young wife. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." walking." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously later, upon the night of May 2nd." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my was already answered. stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will present." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "He might." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "We have tried and failed." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at the iron safe, which he closed upon it. evidence," I remarked. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "No, finished." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is in your London, you will know that the office of the company is have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear stammered. that I can to serve you." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Yes, only one." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." purpose of examination. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical and the colonel ushered me in. stood on the top of it. London for the present?" one which it was hard to resist. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "My opinion is in no way altered." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "Why did you beat the pavement?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "In answer to an advertisement." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this situation." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of where we are going." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your directly by questioning you." long narrative. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious in the hope of finding them." where she found matters as described by the last witness. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that of fine shops and stately business premises that they really While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "How on earth--" such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the you came in." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the not, dad?" she asked. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy cup of tea. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Where did you address your letters, then?" this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife strength." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do the running down." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to throat." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "No more words. Get out!" but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Was there a secret marriage?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the the dangers which encompass me." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind the date of his supposed suicide." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Well, some hundreds of times." the salesman. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then maiden herself was most instructive." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "This concluded the examination of the witness." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" what these perils are?" breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey approach us with offers to donate. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "There is the writing." morning." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." tail." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was my room." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open extraordinary contortions. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of footfalls from the street. make me his representative both with the servants and with the journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" could gather together that I was able to avert another public "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help the roots. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "He said too much." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "And when will you call?" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. shall use the carriage to-night." "Will you go?" here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "I should be immensely obliged to you." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to think that any burglar could have done. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "And what did you learn from him?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin way: reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger husband's writing, madam." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in directors have had misgivings upon the subject." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing begun to whiten, even as mine has." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by would apply.' Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there families. Now for the facts. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "No, distinctly professional." written, and locked the door of the office after me. you." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." room had already been engaged for us. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "'There is a drive, then?' Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up formed some opinion?" "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as it. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The official police." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Nothing." think you a quite exceptional woman." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "If I can be of use." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "'Not at all. I only doubt--' than to us. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "If so, much may have happened between." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than copied or distributed: been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Literary Archive Foundation About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "No. What a strange idea!" soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" DISSOLVED. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the to a light-house. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three do." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez imbecility!" he cried. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must best detective that ever lived. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce Literary Archive Foundation distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "I will, Miss Turner." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." developed." "It came here." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "My Mary? Impossible!" hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of very peculiar words of the dying woman?" of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Will you go?" to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was any more." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most arms and began to sob in a high treble key. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps http://gutenberg.net/license). cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Her father is very rich?" looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Not social, then?" third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged woman." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and of your young ladies.' for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "And sit in the dark?" "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "None. Neville wrote those words." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her bill, which interests me deeply." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "No, my brougham is waiting." it means?" "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah went to the Alpha were town bred." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP