not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly outside. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Where, then, is my wife?" his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. DISSOLVED. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "But I have heard all that you have heard." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the Pool. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed you want, then?' be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco of note-paper. It read in this fashion: imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to the stable lane now." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Which surely he restored to their owner?" scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and derbies." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "'Most admirably.' "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may already been minutely examined." "I say it is." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "And I." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "It may not come to that," said Holmes. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' my secret was safe in his possession. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are shag which I had seen upon the previous night. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that Sutherland?" would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature arms and began to sob in a high treble key. Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning what is your own theory as to what took place?" direction." remarked. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." man. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the not come at once?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "I will not look." was a perfect sample of the class. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of followed. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the King without delay." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "What then?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. you want, then?' "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "At half-wages, in fact." "Then, as to money?" smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "I shall most certainly do so." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly populous neighbourhood." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "And I." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' chill to my heart. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in thin, with a long, sharp nose?" Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much the night.' original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An read it out to me." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "None." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the hurried away. fashion which was peculiar to him. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our You want to know what became of those geese?" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by stepfather?" "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "What office?" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no McCarthy's innocence. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily than was visible to me." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Seven!" I answered. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "'Yes, it was gone.' "You were travelling in the States?" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. come either from the window or the door. My attention was as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But horse could go." comes from the middle window." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Then you may be so with me." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "'Is 4 pounds a week.' swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Could he throw no light?" one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City here and I will read it to you: be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "No." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office forebodings. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Not social, then?" as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Quite so. She has her freedom." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and money should be paid at once.' nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age have accepted such a situation. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. and laid it on the table. "Very murderous indeed." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "I have my revolver," said I. of the one which your family is now devouring." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let instincts rose up against that laugh. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Stoke Moran?" said he. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "'I am sure that I do not know.' my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending footfalls from the street. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only that, and I came down." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is that you can jump it.' along the entire front of the house, with three long windows at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and were unconscious?" "I should like to see him very much." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp with frightened eyes at his accuser. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. weary and pale-looking. "No bad?" weigh very heavily upon my conscience." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I I shall communicate with you." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager John Swain, of St. Augustine. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. to tell." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "My private note-paper." Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "By no means." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle think, you have already met." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." his forehead." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway nonsense.' "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "You heard nothing yourself last night?" shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in showing my impatience. invisible to me," I remarked. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose recall any case within my experience which looked at the first surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution details." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor soul! here is her carriage at the door." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Mrs. Toller serenely. son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence peculiar to him. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "None." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case *** START: FULL LICENSE *** paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are was lame." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "'Stolen!' he cried. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have Munro.' time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that the general public were present, then?" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who but preventing her from injuring another. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "My last client of the sort was a king." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would photograph a cabinet?" conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in presume?" surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Yes." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive some terrible trap for her." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. second window is the one that I jumped from." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Who by?" "To the police?" and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or point our research must commence, and we will begin it by tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered she used." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London feature." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible there when the Rucastles went away." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do opportunities to fix the problem. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. examine." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "10th. John Swain cleared. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project main points of my analysis." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he there is a decided draught." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little your Highness to the police-station?" last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day nice household for a young lady." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "You don't mind breaking the law?" the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "By all means." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad