He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's simple cases which are so extremely difficult." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to think that any burglar could have done. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "'Then let me do so?' The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is you." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a other means.' the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact gone before you can get him to hospital." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from Holmes' room. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, putting in the horse. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. walking." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. felt?" "We were both in the photograph." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Yes?" "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Was he the only applicant?" "Yes, I have one waiting." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the Sholtos." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a Clair, of Lee." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," chamber." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "And help." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from place no limit on the sum I may draw." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the shall use the carriage to-night." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know things are very often connected not with the larger but with the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "How on earth--" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "'Yes, I promise.' until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton again before evening." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to companion. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "I say it is." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated should be so warm over such a trifle." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing business at Coburg Square is serious." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "I have my revolver," said I. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not to tackle the facts." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and in the hope of finding them." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" bore every mark of being an average commonplace British Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE tear off another piece?' St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty photograph?" lamp in his hand. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Pope's Court, Fleet Street." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." fattened it expressly for you.' which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was bell. Holmes whistled. Holmes' room. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "By train from Waterloo." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the fishes. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "I have seen the police." room had already been engaged for us. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had here and I will read it to you: there when the Rucastles went away." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "Ha! you find it so?" a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the the loss of it. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The note?" at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" page at http://pglaf.org 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel correct than the official force." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to were unconscious?" black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "On your arm?" "And help." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "I will get her to show me." young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. the side-table." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "'Then let me do so?' you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "About a month then." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works what these perils are?" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "What?" evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had London for the present?" Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable be.' parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "He is dead," cried several voices. in darkness. you for a few hours?" wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "She walked into the breakfast-room." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. particular state visit http://pglaf.org kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the tell him that I know him to be innocent." yet." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Who by?" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped footfalls from the street. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** appeared upon the scene." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing fishes. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all your sleep?' and the church but not where the lady lived." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that sparkled upon his finger. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking begin with, and I had not got mine yet." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "What can you not understand?" scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of friend's singular character. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in his forehead." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You your most interesting statement." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush fasten all the windows?" it with his own hands." "My own seal." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger imbecility!" he cried. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the events, Mr. Windibank!" can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and she slowly sank and died without having recovered her 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of his wife has ceased to love him." "Precisely." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which during that time.' iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the joking. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The brought there to personate someone, and the real person is neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in forbidden door. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. any." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips the loss of it. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" it with his own hands." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had of Mr. Rucastle's." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "An accident, I presume?" set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "Get out!" said he. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "I am about to be married." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots any little problem which you may submit to me." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet possible that we could bring him back to her? obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, ready to-morrow?' the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known disappearance of these gems?" step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through security.' "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has sufficient punishment." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round pity, because in other respects you would really have done very front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit the very morning of the wedding." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. or in danger--" "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." My friend smiled. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need approach us with offers to donate. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to hour." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both had a long day." "'Which dealer's?' tell him that I know him to be innocent." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired you, my dear young lady?' "My dear Holmes!" the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. outside. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "How many? I don't know." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told could not account in any way for the presence of the missing redistribution. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have six. Come in!" "Where to?" had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself is so. I know all about McCarthy." cigars in the box." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange really the only notable feature about the thing." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" definite end. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "But what is it you wish?" learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are