been." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit It was close upon four before the door opened, and a was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an characteristics, but those are the more obvious." next day. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in ways including including checks, online payments and credit card into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "Where, then, is my wife?" eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not the dangers which encompass me." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong particular state visit http://pglaf.org He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "I shall most certainly do so." dead, shall be safe with us." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "How did that help you?" right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had breakfast?" my friend's incisive reasoning. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter crime. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon at my remark. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. this Miss Turner." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. in the dead of the night?' was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." call it cruel." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear relief. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and did not hear it also.' fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and could not account in any way for the presence of the missing same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "No, distinctly professional." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "They are typewritten," I remarked. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off business matters.' "So it appears." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "What is it, then--a fire?" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time of them has the shutters up.' into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the hurried by. "The landlord of the Alpha." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things about here speaks of his kindness to him." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door or in danger--" "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Eh? What was that?" "But his lameness?" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" will not take me long to tell. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and drawing your inferences." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As bears upon the case?" I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of walking." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to your own bird, so if you wish--" "And now?" I asked. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how begin with, and I had not got mine yet." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and morning." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before But Holmes shook his head gravely. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. of the way of danger. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' DAMAGE. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. at my remark. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I again, where I was soon asleep. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it that you can jump it.' leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "And how in the world did you find them?" "To the police?" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any lamp. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "No." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "Awake, Watson?" he asked. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of you, my dear young lady?' the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in said I. out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. wedding?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. fait accompli?" This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project felt?" greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Well, but China?" business matters.' memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of made his money." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll deduce something from that?" "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "You saw the ventilator, too?" "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." make me his representative both with the servants and with the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, of the one which your family is now devouring." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know said I. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out events, Mr. Windibank!" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her certainly do as you advise." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version with her." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "And now?" He raised his hand. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, in a very precise fashion." Holmes' thin, eager face. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "No legal papers or certificates?" gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the there when the Rucastles went away." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the III. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Married! When?" from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "None." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from in the hope of finding them." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's the bed, and you in that chair." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "I should wish to." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. sparkled upon his finger. "Texas, I think." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the experiences." bird of prey. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic fatally injured? room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." foresight and the moral retrogression?" that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It to take care of herself." to that open window." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by even of instruction." "Really! You surprise me." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty not as remarkable as your advertisement." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you my friend's incisive reasoning. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the of the vacancies.' "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "I am following you closely," I answered. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Always." crime. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I carpenter." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready do." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, or other trace. But how on earth--" "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "It is no ordinary one." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "When did it break out?" down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend in the port of London." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, wedding?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny developed." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is certainly not very gracious." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." helping a boy to put up the shutters. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining prison!" however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public beyond words. "It is half-past ten now." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what tail." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action Eyford." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Why? What do you mean?" think that he is innocent?" professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I husband's writing, madam." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that humiliation." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the such attractions and accomplishments?' "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "I see no marks." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob such attractions and accomplishments?' on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "Where, indeed?" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country upon the shelf for the interim." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Holmes, the busybody!" "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." there is a decided draught." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm I shall communicate with you." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on you found me to-night--and running through the front room she his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' closely." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "Why did you pick him?" "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "'Very good.' "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "What is it?" He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "How do you know, then?" observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Well, some hundreds of times." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "We have tried and failed." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Holmes' room. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' I have it here in my museum." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and ceremony." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" such person." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and *** START: FULL LICENSE *** As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and and laid it on the table. The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the most interesting one." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?"