we went to search for him, face downward in a little all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Holmes' face clouded over. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "Nothing." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." carried out of court." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not before, for it was considerably after midnight. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door of Mr. Rucastle's." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the Street. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing sofa. This way, please!" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "That is unusual in a young girl." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. note?" and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "In answer to an advertisement." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and province." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the success. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all sneer upon his pale face. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he the one as in the other." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned affection." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, your equipment. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a from the brougham. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. you?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start I leave." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "And what did you learn from him?" had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon weighed down with some great anxiety. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by the very morning of the wedding." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, enter Dr. Roylott's room." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" husband's writing, madam." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "I will get her to show me." sooner or later she must fall a victim. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but my former friend and companion. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical the Red-headed League." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "But how could you guess what the motive was?" coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "I cannot imagine." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Not in the least." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." if I call to-morrow?" I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His silent! Oh, he will be silent!' smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought know what is wrong with it.' located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from you?' some water from a caraffe. and wait." had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a them?" "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his was not a bird to be seen there. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "'I am sure that I do not know.' the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and of the vacancies.' fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured amused." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "I should be immensely obliged to you." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Precisely." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at fasten all the windows?" Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to friends, not even his own brother. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face your equipment. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "'In my own bureau.' through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the over with notes and figures. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper them?" floor. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester London for the present?" dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "I say that I have solved it." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be he. anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue carpenter." success. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was strode off upon his way. "But it has twice been burgled." matter." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Eh? What was that?" hour?' ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "The knees of his trousers." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Where did he live, then?" she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "You'll never persuade me to believe that." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since she used." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a later, upon the night of May 2nd." absorbing." to miss it." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big was lame." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. trying to your nerves." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King breakfast?" THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "None." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are did not hear it also.' "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to matter." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and off." your troubles." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Now, then, what's the last entry?" stepfather?" "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old held up the lantern and gazed about him. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. business matters.' "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An to-morrow." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. shoulder; "he's all right." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would shall use the carriage to-night." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "I answered that I had not. have I gained?" Serpentine Avenue. union?" But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, third from London." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Never to return." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency taking in every detail of the apartment. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "That also I could fathom." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am national property. I was determined that the law should have its glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Witness: It was. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "This concluded the examination of the witness." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up three fields round his house, and there he would take his "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "I am sure." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the of Mr. Rucastle's." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your very old mansion. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are and capable of preserving a secret.' "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "That is easily got." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." feature." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "But his left-handedness." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "And you don't know his address?" ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and chambers. "Very truly yours, "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "Dirty?" that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped putting in the horse. "ARAT," I read. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America nonsense.' It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes matter over." "And what did you see?" shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at newspaper selections." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with province." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of address. was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "He disappeared so suddenly." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "Why, what do you mean?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission death." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, nice household for a young lady." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "'Ample.' "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of and glanced through. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "Precisely." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had and the church but not where the lady lived." quite distinctive." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an 'I should be able to look after that for you.' ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. have got?" key turn in the lock." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's envelope. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "A call for help, you thought?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are lost his Christmas dinner." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the than was visible to me." "Have you her photograph?"