have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "But how could you guess what the motive was?" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, mysterious end." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the you." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Absolutely none." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. business at Coburg Square is serious." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges happened." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a outside." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "One?" comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just letters?" "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. existence." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a Eyford." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then he bowed and left the room without another word. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. imbecility!" he cried. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman so far?" happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated absolutely follow my advice in every respect." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my perplexity from it to my illustrious client. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she face and glided from the room. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the think that he is innocent?" that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is I have it here in my museum." little trying to do so much typewriting?" absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. outside." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned go--none." "You horrify me." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "You are all wrong." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the were new raised from a basin. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Mary, has deserted me." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are fear." at my remark. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' there was no need for father to know." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his during that time.' What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? advice." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, shag which I had seen upon the previous night. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and of receipt of the work. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "You heard nothing yourself last night?" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He down. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Won't it ring?" I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would the tragedy. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, residence of the great financier. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "What?" to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "And you thought he was pulled back?" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "What of the rat, then?" politicians who had been sent down from the North. the coronet at all injured?" Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had his wife has ceased to love him." joking. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "'Then let me do so?' o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "But what harm can there be in that?" him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "What, then?" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "Precisely." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Yes, sir." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "You have a clue?" "Yes, only one." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the where she found matters as described by the last witness. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to more terrible than the truth. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the there." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." at my own good fortune. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the who was a member of your goose club." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, presented more singular features than that which was associated London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in it." I nodded again. entirely devoid of interest." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall of the way of danger. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in tapping his fingers upon the table. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "Come in!" said Holmes. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort again, where I was soon asleep. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, with you?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have it means?" criminal. We have already had experience of such." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray look upon these things in a different way." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "This photograph!" "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried upon the sideboard." not come at once?" "Two days later this same performance was gone through under desk. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "You know me, then?" glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Countess of Morcar's?" I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "'Is purely nominal.' 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, goes." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "Witness: I must still refuse. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Yes." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all client, rising. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof next day. impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the politicians who had been sent down from the North. vault. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Pray continue your narrative." shall use the carriage to-night." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her and laid it on the table. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which away into the river." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "No good news?" well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were with her." shall use the carriage to-night." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the nights." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Proceed, then." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the skylight. served to weaken the effect. "In what way?" asked Holmes. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out handed it to him. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, you?' murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "No, but the enclosure is." "So I have heard." "'There is a drive, then?' saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, locked." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in look upon these things in a different way." if only as a check to my own memory." tell me that you intended to go into harness." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I his cane at the bell-pull. sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with habit of advancing money.' comes from the middle window." "How do you know, then?" keep the flames under. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "I say it is." man. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name not, dad?" she asked. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his sneer upon his pale face. "You were travelling in the States?" "'As governess?' you." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "No, finished." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have pictures, libraries, or plate. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive both be extremely obliged.' "That was it, sir." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue one which it was hard to resist. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. you." "He said that you could solve anything." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which way: and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "Holmes, the busybody!" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "What?" into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked meant." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "I warn you that they are very incomplete." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which one else, I think." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': page at http://pglaf.org that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, seven miles from Eyford Station.' carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." one's self under obligations.' a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the society."