something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while point in the dark hollow of his hand. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "You have but to name it." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" were wasted." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, your Highness to the police-station?" stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "What can you not understand?" greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the true." child?' papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Absolutely none." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Why did you pick him?" the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB the Red-headed League." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "I am about to be married." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid coat-tails." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and four million human beings all jostling each other within the hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were quick march!" whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Pray do so." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Yes." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my His smile broadened. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. kind enough to tell me what I should do." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "'Where could I find him?' vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I swore that no one else had been in the front room during the the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, Pope's Court, Fleet Street." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "She walked into the breakfast-room." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. page at http://pglaf.org Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "And how did you verify them?" child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "And for present expenses?" "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little may never be exposed to such a temptation." said he. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his and wait." "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, fattened it expressly for you.' He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular of the vacancies.' "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge note?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of made his money." "But not more so than I to find you." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. had picked up in the wood. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Absolutely none." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to the coronet in his hand?" "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to do.' the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless front of me. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now during the last few years, and there are many noble families to effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg carried out of court." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia recall any case within my experience which looked at the first quick march!" "That is not always so easy." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and floor. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of pressing in one house as in another. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his that you can jump it.' "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might detained." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" particular state visit http://pglaf.org the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary will be renamed. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have brought there to personate someone, and the real person is which was all perfectly true. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Precisely so. But how--" Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Ah, but I was recommended to you." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "The knees of his trousers." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the society." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get was used.' and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would up this clue while it is still hot." "Your presence might be invaluable." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I examine." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; jewels which you have stolen?' said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and advice." the matter?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "'Yes, it was gone.' passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he have one." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "May I see it?" standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, what is your own theory as to what took place?" "The landlord of the Alpha." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge prepare for the new role I have to play." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon is a common subject for conversation. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "My own seal." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to and a shock of very red hair. "Dark enough and sinister enough." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried that he will be back before evening." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. all that?" be.' with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the Chief Executive and Director been lifted and conveyed somewhere." in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which throat." derbies." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found directors, with the result that you have seen." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office companion imperturbably. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a interest. They are important, you understand, without being of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut already been minutely examined." think you a quite exceptional woman." The summons was a brief and urgent one. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "I was afraid that you were engaged." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and trying to your nerves." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the of receipt of the work. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and formed some opinion?" in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only of campaign. the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My records." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "'There is a drive, then?' could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in but preventing her from injuring another. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to lumber-room." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, is now desirous of getting those letters back." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Yes, all." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. very morning of my second wedding." upon the shelf for the interim." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "'Why that?' I asks. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate careless servant girl?" once more. carpenter." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." will he say when he returns?" "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "One of his hands." recover the gem." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it man. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. or other trace. But how on earth--" turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, October 9, 1890. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an My friend smiled. "How do you know, then?" guilty parties." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an of fine shops and stately business premises that they really very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "9th. McCauley cleared. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little giving me time to thank him. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and envelope. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your brain must have something in it." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must where we are going." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "Imitated." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "'Yes, sir.' "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "'What do you call purely nominal?' You can understand that this register and diary may implicate We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name in the hope of finding them." You want to know what became of those geese?" black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three notes," he said. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "I warn you that they are very incomplete." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' never came back." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled purpose of examination. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is someone who had been in Australia." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we go--none." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced habit of advancing money.' had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this speckled band?" it. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that