"'Yes, but with my back towards it.' we went to search for him, face downward in a little Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "But not more so than I to find you." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, without a word or a look. more terrible than the truth. "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a you for a few hours?" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he pity, because in other respects you would really have done very without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. which we had just quitted. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you to talk it over. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the loss of it. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a there has been an enclosure here!" unprofitable." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "Yes?" Chief Executive and Director McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Where, then, is my wife?" call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "'Yes, I promise.' the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. upon the shelf for the interim." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this nonsense.' urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to shoulder; "he's all right." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one client, rising. morning." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. started for the Temple to see my husband. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a residence of the great financier. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "'I am sure that I do not know.' comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at morning." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. passage and a tap at the door. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "'Never,' said I. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of as he remarks, very much against the son." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "It certainly sounds feasible." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he forbidden door. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up some terrible trap for her." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, it? Did I buy the geese off you?" Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." not within a twentieth part of the market price." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Nothing?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "None." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the tassel actually lying upon the pillow. death." The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "BALLARAT." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than notes," he said. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "I answered that I had not. "A confidential servant?" bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left fear." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. the running down." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond your co-operation." "Do you know him?" their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon with frightened eyes at his accuser. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had once more for Briony Lodge. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "But we can't all be." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was the coroner come to?" "'Which dealer's?' hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor pound a week." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush to surprise her." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, present." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "It was a confession," I ejaculated. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "The decline of his fortunes, then?" not use it unless it is absolutely needed." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave begun to whiten, even as mine has." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "But he might be a bachelor." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are always that they were such commands as a lady might with Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." photograph?" sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "I was afraid that you were engaged." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a the side-table." something of him before." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the inquest, and which are worth considering." cheerful." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the a good hundred miles off by now." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "You have it, sir, just as it happened." gigantic client. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and spare." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, have been better. It is all right." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, any more." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is this Miss Turner." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's McCarthy." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." never will be, entirely cleared up. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You within hail.' returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. were unconscious?" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune our word." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an case-book, which he consulted. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great then?" system of imprisonment?" essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards this unhappy family?" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Yes, sir." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, yards of it?' some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "A thing like a cleaver," said he. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael handed it to him. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a yourselves in at night?" "'Certainly not.' free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came important." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, made him keep the appointment." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been opportunities to fix the problem. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" what these perils are?" "Why, what do you mean?" "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding status with the IRS. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with colonel looking down at me. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his tapping his fingers upon the table. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Texas, I think." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." said he at last. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows the armchair which I pushed forward for him. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured fattened it expressly for you.' man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "How often?" gives a meaning to it." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "What then?" the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "What steps will you take?" I asked. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute about. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked very morning of my second wedding." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you John Swain, of St. Augustine. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a occupations.' It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. recover the gem." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think vault. fattened it expressly for you.' where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a chill to my heart. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing neither fascinating nor artistic." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall yourselves in at night?" off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom this man was intellectual?" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it business came to an end." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his an introduction to him?" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "No, I had a dozen." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB crime." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to salesman. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He is entirely a question of barometric pressure." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "And it is--" occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn is now desirous of getting those letters back." said he. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Mrs. Toller serenely. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very without success. At last the little money which I had saved began possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police memory. directors, with the result that you have seen." "'In my own bureau.' is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "And leave your case unfinished?" "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand conceal it?" gbnewby@pglaf.org I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "No." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "'As governess?' "Pray continue your narrative." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his and the whole place is in a blaze." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a fluttered off among the others. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal the dangers which encompass me." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, returned to France?" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the yourselves in at night?" "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her allusion to a rat. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "And Miss Sutherland?" read it out to me." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "One of his hands." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about more solid." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with to me. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. fishes. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then be sorry for having acted so harshly." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: