constraint." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "I should wish to." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." crowd. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a face and glided from the room. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate sufficient punishment." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It done what I asked you, Jones?" strength of mind to control. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and villagers almost as much as their master. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "She told me to ask you." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." legal crime." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without cost them two and thirty pounds." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. said I. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade neither fascinating nor artistic." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "'Yes, sir.' the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure power." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "I say that I have solved it." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "In answer to an advertisement." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "I should like to see him very much." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "No. What a strange idea!" "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' DAMAGE. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am three fields round his house, and there he would take his read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of written, and locked the door of the office after me. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "I cannot think." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a pierced for earrings?" remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped so far?" to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the when you have done it." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "No." it. income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when individual and becomes the badge of a society." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover carpenter." original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the absolutely follow my advice in every respect." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "No, I had a dozen." shaken than I had ever seen him. than was visible to me." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "No." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, that, and I came down." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer with some details as to your case." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we arrangements." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "No, distinctly professional." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is to miss it." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it Holmes' thin, eager face. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "My dear Holmes!" remarked. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a him and tried to hold him back. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "To an end?" Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. was used.' "Seven!" I answered. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. tapping his fingers upon the table. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and that I may have something better before very many minutes are returned to France?" among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; corner of the building. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this mystery!" there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "None." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "But your client--" rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "But you were on a friendly footing?" answer." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to there were so many in the whole country as were brought together said he, "my real name is James Ryder." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "You don't mind breaking the law?" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "I fear not." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "You think so, too?" sofa. This way, please!" facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the furiously. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up to-night." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Proceed, then." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Won't it ring?" pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "On the contrary, this is the right side." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which ways of our fellow-men." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" depend upon your compliance." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to of Fenchurch Street." "You know me, then?" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "'It is locked up,' I answered. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not DISSOLVED. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, everything which you would wish to know." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a anything to a woman, for she would have her way." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "Yesterday." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client both be extremely obliged.' The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. Cross for the Continent." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project to-night?" I asked. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as a monotonous occupation." tell him that I know him to be innocent." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." stalked out of the room. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Certainly, madam." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "A confidential servant?" "Seven!" I answered. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Certainly, madam." whatever might befall. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of of receipt of the work. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' him. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Why serious?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "No, thank goodness, she did not." presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it might have a private word with us. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call shaken than I had ever seen him. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a You want to know what became of those geese?" She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately morning." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any pierced for earrings?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with away into the river." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "So I heard. You have him here?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a papers must be those that are destroyed.' "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came Edgeware Road. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Dr. Gregory B. Newby orange pips. "And why?" was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a bore every mark of being an average commonplace British exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "But he might be a bachelor." nothing with him." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly little trying to do so much typewriting?" that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope any." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Yes, it would be as well." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Street. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of maid will bring up your coffee." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during closely." drove away. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be held up the lantern and gazed about him. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. quite distinctive." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough shoulder; "he's all right." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. Chief Executive and Director "Pray do so." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every me upon any point which I do not make clear." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on detective. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. developed." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall gone. directly by questioning you." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "'I shall certainly be there.' cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, derbies." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed golden eyeglasses. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to way: man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "Game for a morning drive?" companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" Where does the thing come from?' son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working come either from the window or the door. My attention was our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which hard-headed British jury." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt situation." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Dr. Gregory B. Newby then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "What have you to say now?" public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was Street. "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always been." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "What then?" whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am heavily into it. you understand?" object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "At the wedding breakfast." skylight. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "But his left-handedness." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by was already answered. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a remarked.