which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "No, thank goodness, she did not." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. outbreak?" confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "A thing like a cleaver," said he. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us impression behind it as though a window had gently closed End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when later, upon the night of May 2nd." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in For additional contact information: is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own read it out to me." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to children over to America with him, so that I found myself without Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side approach us with offers to donate. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the recover the gem." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with into the room. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten Project Gutenberg-tm works. case before our client came into the room." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the that he will be back before evening." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "And on what day did he meet his death?" the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. unclasping of his long thin hands. "Was there a secret marriage?" time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, telegram would bring me down to your help." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "It came here." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "None." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may one or two very singular points about this room. For example, until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "I have solved it." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. held up the lantern and gazed about him. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Nothing." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "She showed me, as I told you she would." "Well." fashion which was peculiar to him. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away delirious. listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, problems help me to do so." "Nothing?" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "I shall most certainly do so." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "She will not sell." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little During two years I have had three consultations and one small "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Yes, there are nearly always some there." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by is so. I know all about McCarthy." his wife has ceased to love him." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "How many? I don't know." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." suspect him." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "But what is it you wish?" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "'Then let me do so?' was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the go--none." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety sake, don't!" "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my Have you good authority for what you say?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the him and tried to hold him back. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Why, what do you mean?" 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Yes, but only for you and me." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly hopeless attempt at recovering them." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold is four-and-twenty." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to figure." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society furiously. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, newspaper selections." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "By no means." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, for and were ordered to this address. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "And who is her maid?" and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "I will try. What is it?" Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly without success. At last the little money which I had saved began thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that success. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a chambers. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too society." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built success. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Then you may be so with me." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Again Holmes raved in the air. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "And why?" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that away to you." me what he had done with the three missing stones. legal crime." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and furiously. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. light and attacked it." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father furiously. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work night.' said he. which our visitor detailed to us. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "Certainly, madam." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now when you have done it." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' business?" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and cause to be." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "In San Francisco, a year ago." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when tightly behind him. "Yes, sir." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." and the whole place is in a blaze." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Married! When?" perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "Witness: Nothing definite. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of about. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "By all means." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white allusion to a rat. peculiar to him. Does that suggest anything?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "My photograph." true." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. narrative." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have went to the Alpha were town bred." John Swain, of St. Augustine. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "It was a confession," I ejaculated. careless servant girl?" India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been business matters.' line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the call for it in person on Monday morning.' where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." them?" depend upon my doing so.' of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "And is that all?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, always that they were such commands as a lady might with hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of once more to my work. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "'Certainly not. But why?' remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not asked. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Upon what point?" sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere chambers. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our her also." "Was the window open?" companion imperturbably. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Yes, it would be as well." me upon any point which I do not make clear." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "But to whom?" like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless I think that I could be of assistance to you." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "'Most admirably.' lips." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB It was close upon four before the door opened, and a very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, feature." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" the very letters. But what is this written above them?' allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." seen the man in the road." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Witness: Nothing definite. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind point in the dark hollow of his hand. daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Really! You surprise me." "And I to find an enemy." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been touch that coronet?' obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Dirty?" next day. it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them joking. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a to where he stood hid behind the curtain. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily prison!" question," said Holmes, smiling. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered really the only notable feature about the thing." the best of training." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Then I can wait in the next room." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in fire. You quite follow me?" pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. I. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "But she will refuse." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "Yes, that is the Crown." just called myself is not exactly my own." "No, I am descending." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "He said too much." noting anything else of interest. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. know all about it," he snarled. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "Then I can wait in the next room." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the and the whole place is in a blaze." more solid." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "But what will you do?" "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. better grown goose." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." wedding?" "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' advice." intrusion of other matters." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he