was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any purpose of examination. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and fled together." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Witness: It was. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "And the murderer?" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab best detective that ever lived. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker of his shoulders. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you which our visitor detailed to us. "I beg pardon." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to triumphant cloud from his cigarette. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "And how did he make his money?" tightly behind him. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." was a perfect sample of the class. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Yes." showing my impatience. pictures, libraries, or plate. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "And how did you verify them?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the a very grave face. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into again." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "And the cigar-holder?" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. had formerly been in part my own. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "I have my revolver," said I. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "But not more so than I to find you." "If I can be of use." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to sneer upon his pale face. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "How are you getting on?" horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it to me. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without be there in time for your coming." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Where did you address your letters, then?" before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and matter over." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the of the one which your family is now devouring." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for nothing with him." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been nice household for a young lady." breakfast?" disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in begin with, and I had not got mine yet." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and outsides of the windows. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "Precisely so. But how--" "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little useful material for showing traces. The double line a little was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my vanished into the darkness. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that to tackle the facts." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have putting in the horse. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "It surprised me." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and fire. You quite follow me?" unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I business at Coburg Square is serious." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "But how will you look?" I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "It is true that I have been generally successful." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and if she died from some sudden fright." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked events, Mr. Windibank!" coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these question. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "You will not go there first?" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." house for five minutes.' face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "No. What a strange idea!" fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have astonishment. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. sofa. This way, please!" have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "In answer to an advertisement." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. during that time.' on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "He said too much." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, guilty one." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "And the murderer?" the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "You have it, sir, just as it happened." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing have got?" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "Of what?" out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Texas, I think." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two sufficient punishment." followed. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "So I have heard." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to perplexity from it to my illustrious client. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us showing my impatience. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Never to return." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen have an American origin." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular secret." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful of them has the shutters up.' "ARAT," I read. horse could go." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Pray tell us what has happened to you." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among things are very often connected not with the larger but with the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the out of this horrible affair." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Yes?" conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, meant." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do Holmes' thin, eager face. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for me upon any point which I do not make clear." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. returned to France?" "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "I warn you that they are very incomplete." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "It was an hour's good drive." invisible to me," I remarked. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "His face fell immediately. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "Yes." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way considering the formidable letters which were received by himself Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "But we can't all be." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip McCarthy." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and client, rising. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might me." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he she used." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his you." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "It is possible." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an any little problem which you may submit to me." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his chamber." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor during that time.' former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" make me his representative both with the servants and with the it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "In the cells." desk. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With be best to do. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she respectable self." may never be exposed to such a temptation." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I not within a twentieth part of the market price." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, detective. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and clang of the bell. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to Eyford." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible and no precautions can guard against." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was six. Come in!" "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he my room." "Nothing?" "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear and looked back. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "I answered that I had not. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which miles off. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock conversation I have gathered that they have been married about red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "A confidential servant?" after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be was a loud and authoritative tap. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." so.' rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "You have carte blanche." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "No. His orders were to stay in the house." good for you to do.' and the church but not where the lady lived." "Stoke Moran?" said he. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any least a most suspicious remark." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always Cross for the Continent." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "I never have." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, up this clue while it is still hot." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. asked. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the said I. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition.