as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream chamber." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his in this way: particular state visit http://pglaf.org prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend present." "'Ten to two.' pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in and I shall be with you presently." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Dr. Becher's." disturbance in my wife." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the again, where I was soon asleep. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I room?" all that?" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life as he folded up the epistle. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "And I to find an enemy." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. your Highness to the police-station?" may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child newspaper selections." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "And how have you succeeded?" constraint." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch to tell." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom words came to my lips. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the narrative." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "The Cedars?" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Where did you address your letters, then?" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of right! Sit down and let us talk it over." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel bill, which interests me deeply." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "What! You do not mean bodies?" her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or use an arc-and-compass breastpin." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked back into the street. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. his fortune, and I went back to pa. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her anything to do with the matter?" fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I opportunities to fix the problem. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are handed it to him. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found IS chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent delighted to hear it," he said. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "It is no ordinary one." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. at my own good fortune. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters might help us?" obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "You saw the ventilator, too?" Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "Was he the only applicant?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "No, finished." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put train.' anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "And I to find an enemy." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "When did she vanish, then?" if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is arrangements." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything I leave." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "That is also quite modern," said the lady. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" direction." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to because she had spent so short a time in this country that she We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "And you can do nothing until then?" carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what singular points about the case. What did the police think of the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part was it brought him the coronet? ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "What office?" young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him there." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "The Cedars?" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are it right.' bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the your co-operation." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "Have you it here?" profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "So I have heard." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, This is what he says: "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "By no means." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "It is no ordinary one." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we affair. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from not fit the lock." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and crime." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "And what did you learn from him?" silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" more terrible than the truth. the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly in the port of London." If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling during which he might have communicated with his friend the upon an income of about 60 pounds." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving not personally threatened." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her definite end. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found orange pips. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to and that he would see to anything that turned up. Where does the thing come from?' charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. most interesting one." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away tied." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said lost nothing by them." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings that he has suffered." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "I am sure." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the character. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "But he might be a bachelor." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it bird I ate is country bred." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Just look it up, then." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "'Yes, it was gone.' "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" if I call to-morrow?" "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Nothing." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a cheerful." be sorry for having acted so harshly." disappearance of these gems?" them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or easy-going way." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the never will be, entirely cleared up. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "On Monday." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of been able to understand it, in a very few words. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "There is the writing." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as your only hope of safety." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, very old mansion. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "Very murderous indeed." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Game for a morning drive?" coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. detective. the loss of it. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when existence." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon questioning and rather startled gaze. "Of what day?" figure." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall clanging. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in The summons was a brief and urgent one. "Was he the only applicant?" that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "If I can be of use." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental constraint." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Not social, then?" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a front of the hall door has given its name to the place. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian the Red-headed League." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. fire. You quite follow me?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I of the way of danger. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been this man was intellectual?" "And who is her maid?" am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. you." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "I was certainly surprised to find you there." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "His face fell immediately. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no I nodded to show that I had heard. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce Sholtos." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less the very letters. But what is this written above them?' inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than good for you to do.' a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can His name is Francis Prosper." "Witness: It was. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, six. Come in!" "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second said I. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before with you alone." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door empty. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last companion. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us his knees, staring into the fire. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring enter into my head. your only hope of safety." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against least a fellow-countryman. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, any more." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "That was it, sir." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in For additional contact information: seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Arthur Conan Doyle admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our instincts rose up against that laugh. ordinary clothes on?" would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most details." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "What?" Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, bill, which interests me deeply." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A His name is Francis Prosper." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest again, where I was soon asleep. had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached