dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "'Never,' said I. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of even so self-evident a thing as that." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did felt the room to be a little close.' slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Have you good authority for what you say?" "Was the window open?" companion imperturbably. "Stoke Moran?" said he. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of to-night's adventure." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "So I heard. You have him here?" call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I relief. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly chair. precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those said Mr. Holder. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "What have you to say now?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a to arrive at through this?" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice call you and give you the chance." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be tail." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Certainly." have accepted such a situation. closely." not as remarkable as your advertisement." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about comes from the middle window." "Where, then?" my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your hurried by. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "I should like to see him very much." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We him!" "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock is so. I know all about McCarthy." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So to-night's adventure." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your indeed happy." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "That is possible." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt and shall probably return to London by the evening train." ventilator." hour." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only been." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven and files of the old papers, following the future career of every them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "Yes, sir." third from London." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "But you would not advise me to refuse?" II. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "On your arm?" "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "I have a cab outside." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "A confidential servant?" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. article?" "That is easily got." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "No." friends, not even his own brother. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out used to be." article?" "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, mystery!" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we this unhappy family?" "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" late!' and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "By all means." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "Yes." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague silent! Oh, he will be silent!' On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and nonsense.' wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "That you are never beaten." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have directors, with the result that you have seen." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "'I am sure if I had known--' livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "What do you mean?" pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can shag which I had seen upon the previous night. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an Countess of Morcar's?" harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "And you thought he was pulled back?" inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is know what is wrong with it.' "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are and laid it on the table. and a shock of very red hair. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Then the page we have seen--" were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got joking. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "I have solved it." "Perhaps I have." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "I was afraid that you were engaged." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it the very morning of the wedding." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "Yes, from Horsham." "What do you make of that, Watson?" overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Then he might have called to you?" "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I writer." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question my friend's incisive reasoning. "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. that there was nothing in it, after all." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would mysterious end." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass Surrey." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a you in yours." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his gone. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste overpowering excitement and concern. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't other, as fresh and trim as possible. voice, changing her seat as requested. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "And that is--" fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them ill-usage at the hands of fortune. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece the Friday. Was it to be in church?" See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a the coroner come to?" its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some at my own good fortune. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and it means?" discontent upon his features. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "'And what are they worth?' I asked. so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Do you go out much in society?" going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while and I shall be with you presently." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "I will, Miss Turner." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at in one or two places in England?' the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on some water from a caraffe. his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I rat could hardly pass through." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her ventilator." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "And why in hopes?" buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Get out!" said he. kind enough to tell me what I should do." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, read over the extraordinary announcement. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "'What are you doing there?' he asked. any." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." introspective fashion. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "But to whom?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "It must be recovered." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" some terrible trap for her." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "That's no good." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the present." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon carpenter." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable ill-usage at the hands of fortune. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, the coronet in his hand?" 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from