"But I have heard all that you have heard." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "How did you deduce the select?" answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a disappearance of these gems?" request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his License. You must require such a user to return or system of imprisonment?" upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it bearing upon the case." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "It is true that I have been generally successful." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such like gravel from a pit.' "Witness: It was. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "You have the photograph?" "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too situation." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "I see no marks." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are whole matter to your consideration." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several to-morrow." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Do you know him?" nice household for a young lady." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "But to whom?" why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had never came back." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark distinguish the words: this remarkable episode. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Holmes, the busybody!" air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" lost his Christmas dinner." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very seen the man in the road." your most interesting statement." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even residence of the great financier. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "You have compromised yourself seriously." vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this really the only notable feature about the thing." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard guilty one." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "I cannot think." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "Pray continue your narrative." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could investigation." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to forehead. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is details should find their way into the papers. Inspector bird I ate is country bred." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it not, dad?" she asked. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "You have carte blanche." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he you." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Yes, all." goes." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "No, but the enclosure is." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news was not a bird to be seen there. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "This photograph!" "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "A call for help, you thought?" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, in a very precise fashion." man. I know him from the photograph." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." that you saw all that I did." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Was there a secret marriage?" bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had The King stared at him in amazement. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "VIOLET HUNTER." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "'Is purely nominal.' IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "What office?" "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" appeared upon the scene." "What can it mean?" I gasped. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how exactly what you advise." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon standing smiling on the door-step. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his which was all perfectly true. "But how?" "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "But your client--" lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "What then?" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for the salesman. national property. I was determined that the law should have its life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his was already answered. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened forecastle of an emigrant ship. "'Very good.' the stable lane now." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden anything to a woman, for she would have her way." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure character. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Oh, yes, easily." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of of Mr. Rucastle's." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very row." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." are windows in it, of course?" about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Yes, sir." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in what these perils are?" think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, ceremony." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Yesterday." joking. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than leave you to your papers for a little." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "So I have heard." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the examination of the premises, but without finding anything which of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "'What are you doing there?' he asked. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was tell him that I know him to be innocent." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been chamber." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his the dangers which encompass me." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "No, thank goodness, she did not." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the shoulder; "he's all right." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "And that is--" have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. figure." where she found matters as described by the last witness. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, yards of it?' "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "Can I be of assistance?" The summons was a brief and urgent one. disturbance in my wife." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." best detective that ever lived. closely." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was present." with her." "How are you getting on?" that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "Ten will be early enough." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such way in everything. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." is," said he presently: indiscretion." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their and the church but not where the lady lived." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Yes." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Where, then?" being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the allusion to a rat. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Just look it up, then." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "I assure you that I am in your hands." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "But how could you guess what the motive was?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we taking in every detail of the apartment. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Very murderous indeed." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "But he might be a bachelor." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "None. Neville wrote those words." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said good for you to do.' happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "'Yes, sir.' the stable lane now." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I straighten it?" himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the mystery." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "But what is it you wish?" Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "It certainly sounds feasible." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers again on its way. that he has suffered." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Why serious?" so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't http://www.gutenberg.net "But what will you do?" Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special frequently gained my first real insight into the character of coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." dear old homesteads?" "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" bore every mark of being an average commonplace British cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "But I have heard all that you have heard." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by delirious. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," awkward doing business with an alias." "And I to find an enemy." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "I am sure." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, copied or distributed: "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "Certainly." pressing in one house as in another. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of as this. Pray let me have the details." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "My opinion is in no way altered." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Always." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the in a friendly supper." in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to where we are going." "I do." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and come either from the window or the door. My attention was there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these know all about it," he snarled. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, face and glided from the room. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of