at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." to-night?" I asked. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." the driver. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite could go. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband prison!" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master spare." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If the matter?" should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having to a more successful conclusion." heavy and sharp instrument." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' The King stared at him in amazement. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, in a friendly supper." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "I warn you that they are very incomplete." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Have you her photograph?" wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day easy-going way." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. http://www.gutenberg.net to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "'Where to?' our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Yes, he did." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than may never be exposed to such a temptation." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Never to return." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "Where, then?" ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a not come at once?" glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "No sign of it?" the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "'What would be the hours?' I asked. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I British peeress.'" know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum but preventing her from injuring another. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "I cannot think." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "My Mary? Impossible!" "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the gone. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb standing smiling on the door-step. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony national property. I was determined that the law should have its as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of noble correspondent could be. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises point in the dark hollow of his hand. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the with you?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt if I call to-morrow?" this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "'As governess?' step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he back into the street. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He returned to France?" "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since should be taken.' "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter not interfere, come what may. You understand?" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "And you thought he was pulled back?" of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is bill, which interests me deeply." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 in. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." me upon any point which I do not make clear." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to place of silver." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went lectures into a series of tales." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, mysterious business." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a of the one which your family is now devouring." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall least a most suspicious remark." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Her father is very rich?" pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "May I see it?" instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom Literary Archive Foundation photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Yes." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of leaning back in his chair. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If bell. Holmes whistled. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "She showed me, as I told you she would." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "My dear Holmes!" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. never came back." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at and that he would see to anything that turned up. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" cost them two and thirty pounds." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I away to you." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." never came back." were wasted." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Perfectly so." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "How did he come?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." with some details as to your case." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "'Very good.' doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we cost them two and thirty pounds." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since ran thus: long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the money should be paid at once.' as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A train.' to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Will you bet, then?" galvanised. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "The best possible." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it towards the blaze. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite DISSOLVED. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the were new raised from a basin. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and tail." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He the salesman. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and God! What an exposure! What can I do?" Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you kind enough to tell me what I should do." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "ARAT," I read. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" wall." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "I should like to see him very much." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "On Monday." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "I was afraid that you were engaged." rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Was he the only applicant?" the address that was given us in the advertisement. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as Leave Paddington by the 11:15." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one in a friendly supper." unprofitable." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more like that before?" which was all perfectly true. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "I fear not." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert forebodings. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, nights." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure compunction about shooting them down." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many in the port of London." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other plantation.' bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "'Yes, I promise.' had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, touch that coronet?' and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to lips." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our derbies." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events ourselves in the office." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as highly," said Holmes. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of