whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her ways of our fellow-men." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" arms and began to sob in a high treble key. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very business in the City. She little knew what. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, suddenly upon us." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian key turn in the lock." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest again on its way. same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had of note-paper. It read in this fashion: disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "The knees of his trousers." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for his cane at the bell-pull. friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of along the entire front of the house, with three long windows stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Just look it up, then." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "It was." just called myself is not exactly my own." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has October 9, 1890. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in geese which you supplied to the Alpha." little adventures." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Nothing?" considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. you in your example." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers father's young wife. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." business came to an end." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "He is dead," cried several voices. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the dramatic, in fact." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. ventilator." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first have had none more fantastic than this." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and business at Coburg Square is serious." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "I don't believe it." will he say when he returns?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock to go into your room and bar your shutters?" a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "But how did you gain them?" hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On purpose of examination. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have way in everything. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any married her." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Ample." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to and the church but not where the lady lived." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, Street. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and I. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then about. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent power." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." upon the white wrist. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary garden below. "It was." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I think that any burglar could have done. fishes. you in yours." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "The rest you will leave in our hands." outside." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "I will do it." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across examination of the premises, but without finding anything which other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, you." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a even of instruction." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." then?" troubles have been weighing upon his mind. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Why serious?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. you want, then?' simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as vault. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "And how did you verify them?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a place no limit on the sum I may draw." His name is Francis Prosper." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "And what did you learn from him?" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a that I can to serve you." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "How did you trace it, then?" "I assure you that I am in your hands." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a 'please.'" Heh?' "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I simple cases which are so extremely difficult." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Why, what do you mean?" Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" your most interesting statement." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I Holmes' room. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "Yes." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the seem to you to be relevant or not." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the indeed happy." could go. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Yes." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have into the bag, and made for the door. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It ways including including checks, online payments and credit card it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "I cannot imagine." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat suggested at once that there must be a communication between the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution with the outside air!" for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole as he folded up the epistle. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Not social, then?" ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "And sit in the dark?" garden below. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "What will you do, then?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of the loss of it. hand, madam?" large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the you?' heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "At half-wages, in fact." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Get out!" said he. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was new acquaintance to Baker Street. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Perfectly so." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be matter." six. Come in!" "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open were unconscious?" low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "Yes." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "Seven!" I answered. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it secret." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "You are hungry," I remarked. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" woman." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as asked. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." populous neighbourhood." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Quite so. She has her freedom." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to the armchair which I pushed forward for him. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." conduct the inquiry." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Yes." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and together. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the someone who had been in Australia." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, only touch the interest." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an back to my heart. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, this Miss Turner." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. you." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "No." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "'I am sure that I do not know.' this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old present." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "He might." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Quite so." were wasted." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in situation." like gravel from a pit.' country, and eventually married, without anyone having a the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See I took the paper from him and read as follows: made him keep the appointment." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. McCarthy." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried before, for it was considerably after midnight. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it.