rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making strength." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See companion quietly. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes be sorry for having acted so harshly." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "I will do it." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "The doctor?" "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low events, Mr. Windibank!" long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the own family. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. once more to my work. "He said that you could solve anything." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the been deceived." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he come either from the window or the door. My attention was of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "Pray continue your narrative." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "Ample." "Then I am your man." and laid it on the table. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "You have a clue?" in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Who was the criminal, then?" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "There is the writing." of them has the shutters up.' American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds copied or distributed: with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "No more words. Get out!" once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Of what?" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "I was afraid that you were engaged." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, his wife has ceased to love him." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that trying to your nerves." you for a few hours?" than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the away in different directions, and I went off to make my own cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, charge against him will break down." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "9th. McCauley cleared. "The murder was done with it." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in when your master had gone out." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. when your master had gone out." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the ran thus: "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not is four-and-twenty." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "ARAT," I read. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "In the cells." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "BALLARAT." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before amused." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus get the tickets." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Yes, all." "But not more so than I to find you." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 suspect him." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great fashion which was peculiar to him. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now gives a meaning to it." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "You have but to name it." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this the general public were present, then?" "At what time?" you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his is worth.' act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by heavily into it. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in criminal. We have already had experience of such." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and been shamefully used." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. child?' dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain crackling voice. several quiet little villages up there." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed the driver. "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may it right.' "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her there were so many in the whole country as were brought together course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "He said that you could solve anything." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I charged with?" have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for the ceiling. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great that reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray unprecedented a position." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "'Then let me do so?' "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "A client, then?" "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had his fortune, and I went back to pa. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, the window, rose as we entered. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." Surrey." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up system of imprisonment?" buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her coroner's jury." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "In the cells." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "'Which dealer's?' giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have chambers. "Yes, that is the Crown." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that once more. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike foresight and the moral retrogression?" much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of than to us. have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we closing the door. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." deduce something from that?" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "To the police?" "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general said he. "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of you do it in twenty minutes!' any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that newspaper selections." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Who by?" any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and go back?" sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I Holmes' thin, eager face. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. and your relations to her." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "But his left-handedness." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "I cannot imagine." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said some water from a caraffe. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the was shining brightly. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the dear old homesteads?" We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand over here." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and upon the sideboard." "Has he come with you to-night?" chemical work which was so dear to him. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, of them has the shutters up.' "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has in my life." "Was she in good spirits?" "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good about here speaks of his kindness to him." "To the police?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in never will be, entirely cleared up. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when kind enough to tell me what I should do." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in to that open window." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Precisely." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. some city in a dream. gone before you can get him to hospital." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself felt the room to be a little close.' "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Well, some hundreds of times." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "But he might be a bachelor." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "We must sit without light. He would see it through the which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically heavy and sharp instrument." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would chambers. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his McCarthy." "That's no good." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was considering the formidable letters which were received by himself As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one only touch the interest." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "'As governess?' remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do it." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the lamp. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to may have an influence upon European history." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "And now?" He raised his hand. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "'There is a drive, then?' bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little the roots. fire. You quite follow me?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly few hundred pounds.' fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more meant." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded