Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling the warnings." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he it with his own hands." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. of this gang." This is what he says: power." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By humiliation." to talk it over. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Thank you. Pray proceed." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Well." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "From his hat?" purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Certainly, madam." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My delighted to hear it," he said. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to hurried by. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "It is possible." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would in your London, you will know that the office of the company is lamp. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came vague figure huddled up in the darkness. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Yes." original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "I cannot think." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Has he come with you to-night?" fashion which was peculiar to him. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it it means?" "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady as he remarks, very much against the son." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your look upon these things in a different way." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in she might be summoned. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with his face which made him a very different person to the round, said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like it right.' "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time relation between them, and what the object of his repeated more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The village inn over there?" "What will you say?" "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." constraint." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have pierced for earrings?" does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes one's self under obligations.' near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black thought that she would have been so carried away." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the himself to tell his story. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons papers must be those that are destroyed.' and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "'And what salary do you ask?' that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are me what he had done with the three missing stones. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for his forehead." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "What is it?" not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a fasten all the windows?" tassel actually lying upon the pillow. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between to you." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my disappearance of the bride.'" "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and father's young wife. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the Street. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever outside. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call mystery." my secret was safe in his possession. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "And how have you succeeded?" "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very assist you in forming an opinion." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, American. Then who could this American be, and why should he pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to second window is the one that I jumped from." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting as the one I chose?' "You saw the ventilator, too?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "'Never,' said I. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "So I heard. You have him here?" Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my once more for Briony Lodge. young Openshaw's." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Stolen, then." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "'How far from the body?' man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this strong reason behind." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the how narrow had been my escape. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Yes." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your made him keep the appointment." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "And is that all?" silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little that you saw all that I did." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Entirely." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "You think that he is dead?" "I was sure that I might rely on you." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "'What would be the hours?' I asked. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons you." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the devil!" upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple happened." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened she to prove their authenticity?" seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "About a month then." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "And from a noble client?" A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "None." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "And now?" He raised his hand. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "None." down. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "'And what salary do you ask?' of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "You think so, too?" ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a pity, because in other respects you would really have done very of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached is acting for the best. "VIOLET HUNTER." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault are, I think, all that we need." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler quick march!" to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the I nodded again. with the outside air!" "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; seven miles from Eyford Station.' wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not Street. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their Sutherland?" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "There is the writing." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "9th. McCauley cleared. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in You can understand that this register and diary may implicate really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with the inner apartment." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so Count Von Kramm." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital the window, rose as we entered. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "You think that he is dead?" "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way kindly on the shoulder. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." corner of the building. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "This concluded the examination of the witness." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced figure." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Breckinridge is his name." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what acquaintance?" all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the enter into my head. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the window when the police appeared." "Very murderous indeed." "ARAT," I read. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey cheerful." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said not, dad?" she asked. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "That is unusual in a young girl." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler writers could invent nothing more crude." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "I shall most certainly do so." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. be.' yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "When did she vanish, then?" although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a only touch the interest." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Certainly." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "That is easily got." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by one else, I think." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on learned something! Where are the gems?" "I have my revolver," said I. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "That is it on the dressing-table." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, case before our client came into the room." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. amused." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I do." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was this man was intellectual?" although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One absorbing." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" on re-entering her father's house?" "I cannot imagine." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" strong reason behind." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me gigantic client. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." sake, don't!" Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save looking up at the numbers of the houses." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the business." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, Literary Archive Foundation value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own felt?" across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "By train from Waterloo." him." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or than was visible to me." "But he might be a bachelor." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "They are typewritten," I remarked. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?"