there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "He said too much." you do it in twenty minutes!' business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it sake, don't!" but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Yes, I have one waiting." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted do you make of it all?" "None." "In the cells." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine or in danger--" his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "I have my revolver," said I. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a not within a twentieth part of the market price." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I time." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met the loss of it. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Why, it's a dummy," said he. fled together." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I his face. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "By all means." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Yes, from Horsham." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "'Never,' said I. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Well." which was all perfectly true. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, shaken than I had ever seen him. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just with her." the coronet at all injured?" unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, dramatic, in fact." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm there when the Rucastles went away." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. The King stared at him in amazement. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Do you go out much in society?" "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "How did that help you?" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to whatever might befall. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Was there a secret marriage?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the it." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that useful material for showing traces. The double line a little Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a felt?" tail." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "You think so, too?" was already answered. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." until night should bring an explanation. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the new duties?' "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "That you are never beaten." one which it was hard to resist. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical was once confined in the cab my mission was practically Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and in. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. gives a meaning to it." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner like gravel from a pit.' heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to matter." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the ceiling. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United danger is over." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" *** START: FULL LICENSE *** slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he orange pips. "Thank you. And your address?" frequently gained my first real insight into the character of great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "He might." desk. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main fat-encircled eyes. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "'Quite sure, dad.' But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be I shall continue with my miserable story. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "And why?" purpose equally well?" present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper Street. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I cannot say that I have." "I would pay ten." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically occurred." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and with some details as to your case." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Yes, I have one waiting." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "Bought." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling there in twenty minutes." reach." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set ill-usage at the hands of fortune. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "But what will you do?" "Then how many are there?" remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" wanted for ourselves." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "Witness: I must still refuse. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" she has been waylaid. There has been no result." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "We were both in the photograph." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Was your sister dressed?" awkward doing business with an alias." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs will not take me long to tell. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is interested in these little problems, and since you are good have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Not I." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of down. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave use an arc-and-compass breastpin." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the here and I will read it to you: which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. criminal. We have already had experience of such." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Then I am your man." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which hands. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George that I am arrested." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he distinguish the words: still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I words came to my lips. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed felt?" light and attacked it." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the which should have the effect of calling the attention of the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery fait accompli?" see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless not, dad?" she asked. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the ready to-morrow?' "Yes." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "But his left-handedness." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. that, and I came down." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. Street. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "And how did you find out?" wall." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be I approached. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, just ask you whether you had heard it.' deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, questioning and rather startled gaze. License. You must require such a user to return or her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Pray continue your narrative." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend heavy and sharp instrument." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours woman." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I into the room. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "'Most admirably.' "Why did you pick him?" the room while you explain this matter?" brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Nearly eleven." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his individual and becomes the badge of a society." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here better in every way that they should make their position a little into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of any." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Was he the only applicant?" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a paper in the air. legal crime." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "But it has twice been burgled." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared companion quietly. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor you." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. lumber-room." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "But how?" to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they examine." III. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "'You cannot say what it was?' ways including including checks, online payments and credit card insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "I am sure." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Very truly yours, side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Yes." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been status with the IRS. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away giving me time to thank him. bird I ate is country bred." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The once more. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "I do." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window II. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. father's place of business?" "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in whereabouts. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Pray continue your narrative." will not take me long to tell. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, triumphant cloud from his cigarette. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "But you would not advise me to refuse?" convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "I was certainly surprised to find you there." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included she to prove their authenticity?" "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "But he might be a bachelor." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "'Certainly,' I answered. bird of prey. used to be." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "No." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Who was the criminal, then?" "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It money should be paid at once.' of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited some mystery and the punishment of some crime." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so sofa. This way, please!" back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "In which, sir?" "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice.