"To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "Yes." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a opportunities to fix the problem. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was had picked up in the wood. Clair, of Lee." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "I answered that I had not. main points of my analysis." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight with you alone." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "What steps will you take?" I asked. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "You are all wrong." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would me upon any point which I do not make clear." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at I leave." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he helping a boy to put up the shutters. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "You are all wrong." never came back." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical leaning back in his chair. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried your equipment. "Oh, fresh and glossy." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. what I may call a really hard day's work." halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm little adventures." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three your troubles." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Then I do not see the point." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "No more words. Get out!" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater wedding?" "But you were on a friendly footing?" "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "No, but the enclosure is." "That is easily got." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of quickly through a disagreeable task. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in do.' "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her always that they were such commands as a lady might with secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away Edgeware Road. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something straighten it?" "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the it." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed during that time.' "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks bled considerably." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "Will you go?" conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the might have a private word with us. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It forebodings. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out once more on the important position which you have been fortunate little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." him. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "I cannot as yet see any connection." trifles." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." where we are going." "'Certainly not.' "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four IS but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several letters?" "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true may have an influence upon European history." "Witness: I must still refuse. hair?' "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a which our visitor detailed to us. outsides of the windows. "What! a murderous attack?" appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "I warn you that they are very incomplete." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any better in every way that they should make their position a little do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie that I am arrested." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every chance." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "'Never.' ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "On your arm?" face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Your presence might be invaluable." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. said I. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ upon the shelf for the interim." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "The landlord of the Alpha." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we despair." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors this poor creature." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Not yet." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own more solid." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "I saw her in conversation with her maid." married her." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Do you know him?" terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Get out!" said he. young Openshaw's." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "'Never,' said I. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Where is it, then?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle assist you in forming an opinion." which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. hereditary King of Bohemia." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport man. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "My dear Holmes!" "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left something of him before." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major open." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. I. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite of a light. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts enter into my head. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your should be so warm over such a trifle." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he have established a very serious case against the son of the air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be as the one I chose?' Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What your equipment. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "'Yes, I promise.' in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as child?' License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." highroad, where all traces were lost. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It a few minutes he said that it would be all right. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as was a lad." gigantic client. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "There are none." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the out." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few strode off upon his way. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "It was." "Yesterday." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "'Very good.' the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "I will not look." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "To ruin me." "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to breakfast?" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB manager. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "No good news?" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. said I. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not following enigmatical notices: had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the stammered. "Then you may entirely rely on me." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE wall." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "'Certainly,' I answered. "'How far from the body?' on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." his knees, staring into the fire. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a crackling voice. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "It is no ordinary one." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. in him." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon place, I think that there is good ground to think that the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low and wait." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the wedding?" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my woman." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from interested in these little problems, and since you are good betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it 11:15.' fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Precisely." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the read it out to me." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine written. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is affair. enough to aid us in our search." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a companion. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "Do you go out much in society?" in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "'I am sure if I had known--' "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Why did you beat the pavement?" before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than in the dead of the night?' secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are