The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "And when will you call?" blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "But she will refuse." children over to America with him, so that I found myself without that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in the King without delay." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary have an American origin." "How did that help you?" sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' whereabouts. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. IS four million human beings all jostling each other within the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "None." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss face and glided from the room. in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have congenial hunt. obstinate." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and disturbance in my wife." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "I don't say that. Perhaps." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug not fit the lock." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part get her out of the way." "But you were on a friendly footing?" pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "A client, then?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, attention." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I she slowly sank and died without having recovered her dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "What, then?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an prison!" successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "By no means." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "Oh, yes, easily." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "It came here." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged once more for Briony Lodge. "Have you her photograph?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is train from Paddington which would bring you there at about appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but and looked back. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I the coronet in his hands?" always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. residence of the great financier. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune photograph a cabinet?" "I cannot think." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear entirely devoid of interest." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "'How far from the body?' "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." south, for the country is more deserted there." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "But to whom?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "No, I think that I'll take it." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Yes, all." taking in every detail of the apartment. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "From his hat?" high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, business." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "'I shall certainly be there.' lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "May I see it?" were wasted." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen Literary Archive Foundation "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must *** START: FULL LICENSE *** the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the records." "The Cedars?" "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "She showed me, as I told you she would." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the during which he might have communicated with his friend the weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. I was concerned in it." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as as yours." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "No." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, upon a handsome competence. "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "Then you may entirely rely on me." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "'It is locked up,' I answered. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "VIOLET HUNTER." "And why?" One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw south, for the country is more deserted there." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before not come at once?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty things are very often connected not with the larger but with the this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the in the hope of finding them." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "That is not always so easy." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." than to us. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "No." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "Always." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow would then never go into court at all." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying village inn over there?" word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door You can understand that this register and diary may implicate workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. generous with you in money matters.' these bleak autumnal evenings." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "No." strode off upon his way. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "You have carte blanche." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of but preventing her from injuring another. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to arms and began to sob in a high treble key. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "The knees of his trousers." kindly on the shoulder. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and call for it in person on Monday morning.' of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an hopeless attempt at recovering them." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "Whose house is it?" not personally threatened." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "No. His orders were to stay in the house." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to the tragedy. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Dark enough and sinister enough." "I cannot tell." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk out of this horrible affair." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of me. You must get home instantly and act." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. matter." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "What office?" carriage. It was a chestnut." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? this unhappy family?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always becomes even more simple." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" remarked. not, dad?" she asked. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Who by?" with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as goes." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. one of the states of the Union." train.' "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "That is unusual in a young girl." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "I am sure." he died? very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key despair." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "A client, then?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "And I." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. occurred." "Precisely." here and I will read it to you: "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not and that he would see to anything that turned up. light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Stolen." "And I say east," said my patient. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from a few minutes he said that it would be all right. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal you came in." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. had formerly been in part my own. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the little trying to do so much typewriting?" you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. stepfather?" insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as crime." "It was an hour's good drive." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "And now?" He raised his hand. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard considering the formidable letters which were received by himself among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "I am armed." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "You have it, sir, just as it happened." in darkness. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, visitors." "What I expected to see." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter reach." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the posted to-day." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew tail." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "It may not come to that," said Holmes. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in or in danger--" "Perhaps we may make them less so." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are bears upon the case?" "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant II. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" asked. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. pound a week." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again fish-monger and a tide-waiter." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it His smile broadened. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "No legal papers or certificates?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "On Monday." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "And I say east," said my patient.