"It is very clear." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "A client, then?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Which are?" What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the in his power. "It surprised me." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "'And what salary do you ask?' shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Stoke Moran?" said he. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "You heard nothing yourself last night?" to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "You saw the ventilator, too?" greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "'Yes, sir.' "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke the running down." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "Nothing?" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside DISSOLVED. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "Yes, sir." is a common subject for conversation. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." in. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks but preventing her from injuring another. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I gives a meaning to it." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a call for protection in the marriage market, for the present most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the national property. I was determined that the law should have its seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "That was it, sir." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting look upon these things in a different way." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, has little to do with my story." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they the date of his supposed suicide." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" derbies." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle noting anything else of interest. works. See paragraph 1.E below. said I. That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Why did you beat the pavement?" "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was introspective fashion. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "You are all wrong." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has points in connection with it which never have been, and probably Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford formed some opinion?" could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down followed. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this the very morning of the wedding." entirely devoid of interest." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "How did that help you?" occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know congratulate you again." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in to surprise her." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon that before taking the final step I should like to submit the darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Was there a secret marriage?" conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Yes, sir." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when him!" got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, we went to search for him, face downward in a little a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "Yes." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for upon the white wrist. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices nice household for a young lady." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had thin legs towards the fire. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "And now?" He raised his hand. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder ways of our fellow-men." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to recover the gem." bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set despair." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "We were both in the photograph." your only hope of safety." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do visitors." you?" terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Yes, from Horsham." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Yes, sir." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had that I can to serve you." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting redistribution. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" of the way of danger. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I room. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "Was he the only applicant?" I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" I have it here in my museum." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty official police." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed you." "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of and all of them with the keenest interest. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches 1.E.9. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "9th. McCauley cleared. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is which was all perfectly true. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly morning." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was prison!" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as existence." him, that man would not have given me such complete information copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "I cannot as yet see any connection." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some redistribution. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at and wait." "Well, it is a possible supposition." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "And did you observe any change in her then?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. chemical work which was so dear to him. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "What steps will you take?" I asked. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have peculiar to him. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and written. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "But not more so than I to find you." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little window when the police appeared." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "And why in hopes?" the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "A call for help, you thought?" "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "You horrify me!" that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Certainly, madam." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, with her." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "You have it, sir, just as it happened." think that he is innocent?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Perfectly so." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards The events in question occurred in the early days of my considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst hopeless attempt at recovering them." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were very peculiar words of the dying woman?" met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, quickly through a disagreeable task. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked more solid." "It is very kind of you." both be extremely obliged.' shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" coat-tails." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I bird I ate is country bred." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "How did you deduce the select?" sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "No." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I hard-headed British jury." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "It looks newer than the other things?" and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently woven round him. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all comes from the middle window." "The knees of his trousers." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my very old mansion. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the compunction about shooting them down." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged so.' "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Yes, sir." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of which it had come upon my father." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was