once more to my work. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but spare." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in father's young wife. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies Doctor, of the paper and the date." "If I can be of use." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well matter over." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he chance at all." "Oh, yes, easily." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious mystery." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. begun to whiten, even as mine has." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." to-morrow." "What can you not understand?" man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his the nursery. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very the King without delay." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes waste of energy." showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "I was sure that I might rely on you." in his hands." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery my secret was safe in his possession. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO him." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "I will, Miss Turner." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when answer." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for throat." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a crackling voice. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he three fields round his house, and there he would take his should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the The events in question occurred in the early days of my is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "My own seal." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was details should find their way into the papers. Inspector hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Where, then?" chemical work which was so dear to him. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting crowd. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first one of them." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "I think that I had better go, Holmes." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she particular state visit http://pglaf.org the very morning of the wedding." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an late!' you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, Serpentine Avenue. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "It is possible." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Yes." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. in the port of London." "Not in a good cause." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "But she could not love him." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," felt?" lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards my special province." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "A greater distance to travel." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." guilty parties." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Pray do so." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Yes, sir." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "She showed me, as I told you she would." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "'Yes, I promise.' shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is o'clock is it?" "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "So I heard. You have him here?" about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does tail." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is bare slabs of marble. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were obstinate." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "How on earth--" fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Was he the only applicant?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "How many? I don't know." is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "Very much so." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. have an American origin." read over the extraordinary announcement. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached him. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "'Not at all. I only doubt--' doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will memory. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." that he will be back before evening." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "What, then, did Peterson do?" thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had redistribution. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no behind me. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the rooms." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "I have a cab outside." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window nights." "What?" "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Seven!" I answered. not, dad?" she asked. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been and all of them with the keenest interest. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking passage and a tap at the door. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the a little more before I quite committed myself. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped his forehead." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Married! When?" really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a again, where I was soon asleep. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a mysterious end." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged pound a week." man. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed her also." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." my little problems." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well annoyance, but no jest. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most side. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an that down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," woven round him. through." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the crime. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project the very morning of the wedding." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It leaning back in his chair. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "And it is--" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "But how?" set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four which I could not give. He asked for Alice. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without fire. You quite follow me?" boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was should be so warm over such a trifle." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "No, distinctly professional." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "You have carte blanche." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had there were so many in the whole country as were brought together collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an disappearance of the bride.'" standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a McCarthy's innocence. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "That is easily got." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "I assure you that I am in your hands." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Is he quiet?" the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a geese which you supplied to the Alpha." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "What can you not understand?" autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "But of what society?" "I came to find a friend." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "'You cannot say what it was?' law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some prisoner's face. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "I beg pardon." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "About a month then." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you is," said he presently: accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better his fortune, and I went back to pa. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" when your master had gone out." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after cup of tea. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and Eyford at 11:15.' fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to weary and pale-looking. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, second window is the one that I jumped from." carried out of court." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea fashion which was peculiar to him. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his to tackle the facts." nice household for a young lady." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life any little problem which you may submit to me." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "You horrify me." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "I have hopes." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "What will you do, then?" front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "'Stolen!' he cried. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if your troubles." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of noble correspondent could be. "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from tapping his fingers upon the table. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "But she will refuse." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for there were one or two details which were new to me. But the like that before?" appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "This concluded the examination of the witness." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "And the murderer?" spare." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern pound a week." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "In what way?" asked Holmes. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "Did he not advertise?" existence." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was The telegram which we eventually received came late one night tied." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood