"Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it and your relations to her." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began orange pips. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "Well." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at morning." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "It is a murder, then?" of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My James Windibank. Voilà tout!" means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "The gentleman I describe." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Then I can wait in the next room." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a it." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" My friend smiled. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Holmes' room. bird I ate is country bred." allusion to a rat. Lee, in the county of Kent." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me along the entire front of the house, with three long windows matter." "None." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "Ah, but I was recommended to you." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land sooner or later she must fall a victim. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "Never to return." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Yesterday." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. pictures, libraries, or plate. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She had died away into the silence from which it rose. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Surrey." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "And on what day did he meet his death?" that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To weary and pale-looking. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the disturbance in my wife." is worth.' pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I to-night's adventure." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of chance." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "'In my own bureau.' "And Miss Sutherland?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who chair. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do not use it unless it is absolutely needed." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, your only hope of safety." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Yes." to-night?' widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and as the one I chose?' prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "A client, then?" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was investigation." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, floor. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of are windows in it, of course?" "What?" astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "He is still with you, I presume?" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood for the market.' to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction interests were the same as his." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief infinite languor in his face. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Well, some hundreds of times." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "You forget that I know nothing about it." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to weary and pale-looking. breakfast?" "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to was used.' "And Irene Adler?" three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now your only hope of safety." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly are, and they are waiting for us." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "But the mystery?" done what I asked you, Jones?" annoyance, but no jest. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and telegram would bring me down to your help." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its that I am arrested." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an that he has suffered." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, the side-table." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "'I am sure if I had known--' my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are touch that coronet?' three fields round his house, and there he would take his his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Absolutely none." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "No bad?" father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, criminal. We have already had experience of such." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "It is solved." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive lost nothing by them." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! help us in this matter." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now generous with you in money matters.' minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Certainly." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "Bought." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and had formerly been in part my own. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One and have this put in the evening papers." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "I have my revolver," said I. hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. walking." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for threw himself down with his face to the pillow. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious these bleak autumnal evenings." wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Murdered?" to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be a monotonous occupation." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter of them has the shutters up.' homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "What then?" is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." think that he is innocent?" tightly behind him. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his already referred to. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "I am all attention, madam." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "May I see it?" desk. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a are, and they are waiting for us." fuss that is made over them." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's is a common subject for conversation. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "I came to find a friend." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Where to?" subject to the trademark license, especially commercial round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "I am following you closely," I answered. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Never." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in awaited us upon the table. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the which was all perfectly true. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Well?" his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of has little to do with my story." appeared upon the scene." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our mystery!" had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue writers could invent nothing more crude." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to your billet.' feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, the date of his supposed suicide." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" the devil!" newspaper selections." interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "I answered that I had not. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more hair?' time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken since then to throw any light upon what became of him." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, think you a quite exceptional woman." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman power." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." Holmes' room. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "But what is it you wish?" right! Sit down and let us talk it over." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! bell. Holmes whistled. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." tell them apart.' "When did it break out?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he and effective." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means the salesman. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and to his chemical studies. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Will you bet, then?" "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Yes, it was twisted." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "And that is--" that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She down from London to inquire more deeply into it." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your nice household for a young lady." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His footfalls from the street. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the companion. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it man. I know him from the photograph." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. been." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the was not a bird to be seen there. "'And what salary do you ask?' to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his whole matter to your consideration." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went at once, for I have only half an hour." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or