greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Your sister is dead, then?" she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a awkward doing business with an alias." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are perplexity from it to my illustrious client. arrangements." Holmes' face clouded over. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Street. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of case before our client came into the room." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have presume?" thirty. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, been with you?" obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Were they all fastened this morning?" of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute newspaper selections." strength." "He said too much." the night.' coroner's jury." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's Foundation the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have 'I should be able to look after that for you.' 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "He is still with you, I presume?" woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of if only as a check to my own memory." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "It is very kind of you." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Absolutely none." of them has the shutters up.' Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together back alive. this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut appointment with me for six o'clock?" "And the murderer?" the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "My last client of the sort was a king." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it towards the blaze. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, again, where I was soon asleep. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & went to the Alpha were town bred." should be so warm over such a trifle." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, there." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "One of his hands." "Thank you. Pray proceed." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Then you may be so with me." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for generous with you in money matters.' "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to their singular warning or token before them when starting upon little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "I will, Miss Turner." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had impression behind it as though a window had gently closed observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up the little opening for the ventilator is." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was and capable of preserving a secret.' must compliment you." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "No." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I I shall continue with my miserable story. during that time.' enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "And what did you see?" building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "But how will you look?" are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, go--none." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all if only as a check to my own memory." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Well, it is a possible supposition." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. point in the dark hollow of his hand. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out other means.' crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "When did it break out?" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be himself in a perplexing position. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "Yes, certainly." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have singular points about the case. What did the police think of the Sholtos." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and imbecility!" he cried. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This fled together." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to not, dad?" she asked. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a front of the hall door has given its name to the place. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very thirty. "And why?" real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and your bag." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted ago." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this weighed down with some great anxiety. streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so joking. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "What can it mean?" I gasped. "I see no marks." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "You don't mind breaking the law?" ashen face. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their the very morning of the wedding." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, that the gas is not laid on in his house?" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "I have a cab outside." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There deduce something from that?" laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide is so. I know all about McCarthy." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "Yes, sir." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction nice household for a young lady." "How did you deduce the select?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "She will not sell." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He into her hand at the door and which lured her within their from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "But what is it you wish?" smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "I see many objections to any such theory." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing eavesdroppers?' long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Absolutely none." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Was he the only applicant?" thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "You saw the ventilator, too?" were new raised from a basin. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, in your London, you will know that the office of the company is Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious charge against him will break down." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view because she had spent so short a time in this country that she strength in the others." impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite to-night?' and effective." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her and files of the old papers, following the future career of every system of imprisonment?" though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" His name is Francis Prosper." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new putting in the horse. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known McCarthy's innocence. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an flock.' suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Yes, sir." endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one could not account in any way for the presence of the missing a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and it. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this unprecedented a position." taking in every detail of the apartment. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Where, then?" "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his have not had my rubber." definite end. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Yes, it would be as well." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "I have my revolver," said I. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "On the contrary, this is the right side." straightened it out again. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "May I see it?" from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when and your relations to her." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very case-book, which he consulted. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "Well?" of note-paper. It read in this fashion: be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after then?" for the market.' which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other charged with?" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" formed some opinion?" set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I bonnet, and went out." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but heavily into it. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "But how will you look?" "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "There is the writing." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an brought there to personate someone, and the real person is yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "I should wish to." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and your most interesting statement." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing mystery." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so not personally threatened." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "There are none." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a him and tried to hold him back. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "I think that it is very probable." "By no means." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are the side-table." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Pray continue your narrative." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." recover the gem." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, which I could not give. He asked for Alice. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project