to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he American. Then who could this American be, and why should he not interfere, come what may. You understand?" horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He memory. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." His name is Francis Prosper." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to crowd. the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three shall not find me ungrateful." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an Munro.' idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than least a most suspicious remark." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "But what will you do?" late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to papers." said I. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." money should be paid at once.' outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "It surprised me." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned in darkness. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, waste of energy." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. one of them." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "I think that it is very probable." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "You think that he is dead?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "The decline of his fortunes, then?" chambers. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the annoyance, but no jest. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "No, but the enclosure is." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Pope's Court. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue village inn over there?" "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." galvanised. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I as noiselessly as she had come. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was in your London, you will know that the office of the company is follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "And did you observe any change in her then?" companion. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I the south-west, I see." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," within hail.' "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "We have tried and failed." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I both be extremely obliged.' glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray is," said he presently: alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, might have a private word with us. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there not interfere, come what may. You understand?" there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "And now?" I asked. difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, ran thus: Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "My dear Holmes!" trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must where she found matters as described by the last witness. gentleman's clothes. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs neither fascinating nor artistic." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Do you know him?" I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is think you a quite exceptional woman." and the church but not where the lady lived." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, or other trace. But how on earth--" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Bought." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have upon the sideboard." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "It is possible." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, that?' "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the death." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what strength." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. went to the Alpha were town bred." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. acquaintance?" family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "'Certainly not.' reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both said I. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "Who was the criminal, then?" and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down is four-and-twenty." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project up this clue while it is still hot." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all until night should bring an explanation. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." Holmes' thin, eager face. habit of advancing money.' "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a with the outside air!" down in his armchair and closing his eyes. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. to tackle the facts." these bleak autumnal evenings." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "No." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital fat-encircled eyes. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to prison!" an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had hand, madam?" "But I have heard all that you have heard." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you what do you think they found in the pockets?" of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice locked. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Never." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the quick march!" while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "But I have heard all that you have heard." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when the best of training." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just think, you have already met." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was next day. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is to talk it over. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' think you a quite exceptional woman." leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this the iron safe, which he closed upon it. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the acted in my house last night?" while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend door?" said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who from the brougham. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "But how?" an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not 1.F. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the Red-headed League." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "What have you to say now?" "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young it." your room." started for the Temple to see my husband. hour." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you call it cruel." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such business?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, which we had just quitted. giving me time to thank him. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He purpose equally well?" the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in 1.F. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "No." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley the south-west, I see." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the in darkness. everything which you would wish to know." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his begun to whiten, even as mine has." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, done what I asked you, Jones?" admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and gentleman's clothes. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a letters?" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I once more to my work. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say has little to do with my story." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off shall not find me ungrateful." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you door?" which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I least a fellow-countryman. at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "It was." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "You forget that I know nothing about it." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Married! When?" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's standing smiling on the door-step. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "But you were on a friendly footing?" specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a dramatic, in fact." "Then you may be so with me." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been your troubles." spark where all is dark to me." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "I should be immensely obliged to you." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram and wait." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to tapping his fingers upon the table. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the in one or two places in England?' the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did to a more successful conclusion." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily bearing upon the case." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. and put his glass in his pocket. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to