Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this over here." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "To the police?" imbecility!" he cried. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself friend's singular character. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my clanging. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some call you and give you the chance." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" too. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, into the bag, and made for the door. alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a how narrow had been my escape. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and to have that photograph." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now sofa. This way, please!" only touch the interest." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "No, but the enclosure is." forecastle of an emigrant ship. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of obstinate." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "How are you getting on?" I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in discontent upon his features. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that hair?' companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "But you can know nothing of this?" sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Only as much as we can deduce." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that think, you have already met." manager. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Stoke Moran?" said he. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you Holmes." when your master had gone out." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "Never." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a whether it answered to the description of any of their Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that the south-west, I see." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "We were both in the photograph." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The to Leatherhead. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the residence of the great financier. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be the ceiling. enough to aid us in our search." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Oh, the cause is excellent!" you do it in twenty minutes!' surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was to some other building. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of his knees, staring into the fire. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless lectures into a series of tales." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. appeal." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "The doctor?" "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "It certainly sounds feasible." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "I came to find a friend." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew into the room. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a brandy and water within his reach. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate without a word or a look. be there in time for your coming." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. cigars in their mouths. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Dark enough and sinister enough." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of are, and they are waiting for us." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Which are?" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not him. "And you thought he was pulled back?" watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently Holmes rather sternly. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would again on its way. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five gentleman's clothes. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "It looks newer than the other things?" congenial hunt. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "You'll never persuade me to believe that." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through electronic works examine." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "It is no ordinary one." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Arthur Conan Doyle and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "But we can't all be." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have signal between you and your father? place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to goes." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "So I heard. You have him here?" misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, taking in every detail of the apartment. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "And help." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "The Cedars?" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping into her hand at the door and which lured her within their me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut stalked out of the room. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "'Where could I find him?' "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." Pool. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was my former friend and companion. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets think, you have already met." his cane at the bell-pull. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took opened the door, and slipped through. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had directly by questioning you." all that?" walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "In heaven's name, what for?" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang my room." "What office?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." answered with a sidelong glance. we went to search for him, face downward in a little upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the him nearly every evening." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your hurried away. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we the little opening for the ventilator is." suspect him." "What?" remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "He is dead," cried several voices. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one it." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may get her out of the way." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always there!' business?" red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Yes." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor in him." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram woman who has had her own way to make in the world. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been into her hand at the door and which lured her within their It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Of Friday, June 19th." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off good for you to do.' rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Doctor, of the paper and the date." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "Breckinridge is his name." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian it." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some fish-monger and a tide-waiter." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the 11:15.' "In San Francisco, a year ago." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "I was afraid that you were engaged." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day said Mr. Holder. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to Mrs. Toller serenely. regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered During two years I have had three consultations and one small "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew round and wave him away like that.' His name is Francis Prosper." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and he bowed and left the room without another word. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and swore that no one else had been in the front room during the myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "One of his hands." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers to tell." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of useful material for showing traces. The double line a little natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Not in the least." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was subject to the trademark license, especially commercial you." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight entirely lost his self-respect." My friend smiled. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Was there a secret marriage?" "And how did he make his money?" evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down here." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I then?" the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "What shall I do?" side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years made him keep the appointment." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. straighten it?" word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned figure." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for at home. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "And I to find an enemy." heavy and sharp instrument." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man any more." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "'In my own bureau.' article?" dates and names. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that started for the Temple to see my husband. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, events than those which have happened in my own family." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that question. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in Mary, has deserted me." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every note?" there were one or two details which were new to me. But the to talk it over. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera like gravel from a pit.' When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and morning." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or matters immensely." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. exactly what you advise." she to prove their authenticity?" these bleak autumnal evenings." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Yes." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "What office?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "'Stolen!' he cried. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless bled considerably." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, Holmes rather sternly. "We were both in the photograph." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Who was the criminal, then?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "Murdered?" beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to