the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his infinite languor in his face. into the room. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third to surprise her." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his straighten it?" him nearly every evening." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "'Never.' away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his train from Paddington which would bring you there at about gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. visitors." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "Yes, they were peculiar boots." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few spark where all is dark to me." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Entirely." iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Well, it is a possible supposition." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I true." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and situation." matter." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. following enigmatical notices: and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the companion imperturbably. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with you." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "But you would not advise me to refuse?" could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the the stable lane now." some terrible trap for her." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Absolutely none." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the that threaten you." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover the Assizes." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' which we had just quitted. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even himself in a perplexing position. fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "It came here." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she nothing of it?" scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs unkempt, staring out at me. "'Yes.' Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "'You doubt its value?' he asked. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" Sutherland. Foundation sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear father's young wife. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Gutenberg-tm License. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Not in a good cause." signal between you and your father? when your master had gone out." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Will you bet, then?" pictures, libraries, or plate. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps had picked up in the wood. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, be best to do. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the garden below. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. knowledge of the world." previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "My last client of the sort was a king." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This drove away. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter stepfather?" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and and capable of preserving a secret.' were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out ill-usage at the hands of fortune. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Eyford at 11:15.' "ARAT," I read. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the into the room. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this make me his representative both with the servants and with the surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to is," said he presently: sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob views." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Texas, I think." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural you in yours." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return someone who had been in Australia." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "'Yes, sir.' about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea hurried away. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Entirely." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming on in his house." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not do you make of it all?" "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "On your arm?" "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been empty. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind to arrive at through this?" armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the them?" it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg or in danger--" even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a States. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, business." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have experiences." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for his fortune, and I went back to pa. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled that you can jump it.' "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which that?' about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "But what is it you wish?" behind me. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." the coronet in his hands?" you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Yes." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the that?' swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether married her." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until tassel actually lying upon the pillow. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, wedding?" "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique photograph?" do.' "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have should be so warm over such a trifle." "No, my brougham is waiting." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." most interesting one." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of to-night?' "You are all wrong." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Certainly." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be what I may call a really hard day's work." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "'In my own bureau.' you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." the best of training." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in more solid." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last strength in the others." "No." morning." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Yes." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an woven round him. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off prepare for the new role I have to play." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of unkempt, staring out at me. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his case-book, which he consulted. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I tell him that I know him to be innocent." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of I was concerned in it." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Yes, sir." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party maiden herself was most instructive." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "When did it break out?" fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were *** START: FULL LICENSE *** part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and easy-going way." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "'It is locked up,' I answered. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other assist you in forming an opinion." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "That is possible." your billet.' the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his bled considerably." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. least a most suspicious remark." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I leave you to your papers for a little." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered to-night?" I asked. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable what these perils are?" "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He all?" sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life locked. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Tired-looking or fresh?" have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa to tackle the facts." his face which made him a very different person to the round, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Here?" "How on earth--" way in everything. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her the stones. you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his make me his representative both with the servants and with the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a him to be an active member of the medical profession." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between unkempt, staring out at me. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "'Yes, sir.' of the one which your family is now devouring." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose returning from some small jollification and was making his way the so-precious time, but come!' his forehead." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of the armchair which I pushed forward for him. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be back to my heart. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It humiliation." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Her father is very rich?" his forehead." is," said he presently: your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as that threaten you." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned one of the states of the Union." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of drove away. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "Do you go out much in society?" at my remark. may have an influence upon European history." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the