her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Then what has happened to him?" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed beg that you will break it off." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "Yes, sir." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of all-comprehensive glances. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "How many? I don't know." evidence," I remarked. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, and capable of preserving a secret.' postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just possible that we could bring him back to her? the tragedy. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "I am to be neutral?" a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the unprofitable." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas I shall communicate with you." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup woven round him. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven again on its way. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor For additional contact information: twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "But his lameness?" guilty one." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than straighten it?" forbidden door. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "But you were on a friendly footing?" all-comprehensive glances. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "Yes." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross train.' "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." these bleak autumnal evenings." "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation him!" "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. forebodings. "It surprised me." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "'Is purely nominal.' reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it when you have done it." "But how did you gain them?" License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out exactly what you advise." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." persecution?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which because she had spent so short a time in this country that she of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are long narrative. "But she could not love him." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "You will not go there first?" "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of Sutherland?" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which depend upon your compliance." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence derbies." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband suggested at once that there must be a communication between the as he folded up the epistle. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "When did she vanish, then?" from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, chamber." the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom himself. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their prove to be little relation between the different incidents of beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "I never have." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might acquaintance?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "'Certainly not.' decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "There are none." "How on earth--" emerged. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense whereabouts. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be be there in time for your coming." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately shall not find me ungrateful." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I case-book, which he consulted. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do and have this put in the evening papers." he bowed and left the room without another word. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading and the whole place is in a blaze." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of me where it went to?" "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "I think it very unlikely." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: at a side door. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to then?" in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Why serious?" retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my silent! Oh, he will be silent!' a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "Ten will be early enough." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "No, but the enclosure is." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he look dissatisfied." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. bedroom door." "No, finished." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said During two years I have had three consultations and one small Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Perhaps I have." "Yes." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his trifles." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," tail." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the definite end. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here nonsense.' governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Yes, all." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the the bed, and you in that chair." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "There is the writing." His smile broadened. "How did you trace it, then?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for gone. "That is not always so easy." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that happened." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I bled considerably." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this The events in question occurred in the early days of my to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "What! You do not mean bodies?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "Well." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "We must sit without light. He would see it through the errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had colour had been driven from his face. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Never to return." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first Dr. Gregory B. Newby "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. the Assizes." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week of receipt of the work. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "On your arm?" to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "I see no marks." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into and laid it on the table. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he himself in a perplexing position. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from fait accompli?" the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Will you go?" Leadenhall Street--and--" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with ceremony." IS would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Then he might have called to you?" "'And the work?' respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in Have you good authority for what you say?" shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Yes." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But of a light. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a that?' "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "The landlord of the Alpha." matters immensely." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as in a friendly supper." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's society." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "I have come for advice." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle interests were the same as his." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, to a more successful conclusion." "And you thought he was pulled back?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "But what harm can there be in that?" running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "'Certainly not.' frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get him and tried to hold him back. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "Did you become engaged then?" deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "What then?" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's distinguish the words: "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "'I am sure that I do not know.' his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "It was a confession," I ejaculated. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. the so-precious time, but come!' which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were what I may call a really hard day's work." four million human beings all jostling each other within the congratulate you again." "What then?" Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they went to the Alpha were town bred." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a chance." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make upon the shelf for the interim." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not to miss it." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "By no means." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very money should be paid at once.' "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my