posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side jewels which you have stolen?' putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one use an arc-and-compass breastpin." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "At half-wages, in fact." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no like gravel from a pit.' light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. something of him before." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Which are?" I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for II. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Imitated." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Holmes rather sternly. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "'What would be the hours?' I asked. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the and no precautions can guard against." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what crime." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, behind me. sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "So I have heard." call the police, let the police find what they can.' Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" felt?" "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the success. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you James Windibank. Voilà tout!" round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, bell. Holmes whistled. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "No, distinctly professional." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Mary, has deserted me." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "'About the same.' conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly me. You must get home instantly and act." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick he. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with as he remarks, very much against the son." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "Bought." less than 26s. 4d. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Absolutely?" in darkness. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last pity, because in other respects you would really have done very cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of will take you up to see the machine.' "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, outbreak?" "'How far from the body?' observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford read it out to me." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Won't it ring?" learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "That was it, sir." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that second." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his lost his Christmas dinner." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try less than 26s. 4d. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "My last client of the sort was a king." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and our word." "What I expected to see." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" out of this horrible affair." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front where she found matters as described by the last witness. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "I would give my fortune to have them back." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Dark enough and sinister enough." later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, into the room. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. up this clue while it is still hot." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his strode off upon his way. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, is so. I know all about McCarthy." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which most important business. It is probable that he will be away all closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found Where does the thing come from?' when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a to tackle the facts." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "I never have." room. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be something of him before." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Holmes, the busybody!" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "None. Neville wrote those words." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the to arrive at through this?" "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just at my own good fortune. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Come in!" said he. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the round with crates and massive boxes. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. are, and they are waiting for us." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an the so-precious time, but come!' why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is there in twenty minutes." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "The vanishing of the lady." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you it right.' "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Have you good authority for what you say?" "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." least a most suspicious remark." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. figure." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "Game for a morning drive?" charge against him will break down." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; all that?" which was all perfectly true. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in public press." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the devil!" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it up this clue while it is still hot." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a companion. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Here?" strength in the others." room. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the once more. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" question," said Holmes, smiling. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable 'please.'" with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was into the room. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "Indeed! Whose, then?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for What do you deduce from it?" to change my dress. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being geese which you supplied to the Alpha." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "So I am. Very much so." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my heavy and sharp instrument." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such foresight and the moral retrogression?" during that time.' "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just absorbing." "But not more so than I to find you." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I forehead. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Look there!" said he. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Mrs. Toller serenely. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, that?' his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup visitors." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "It is very kind of you." families. Now for the facts. "The best possible." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Oh, fresh and glossy." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "But how?" snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their despaired of." foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "And how in the world did you find them?" "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "'You cannot say what it was?' would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "In which, sir?" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Pray continue your narrative." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "None." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "'Which dealer's?' "'Not at all. I only doubt--' can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Yes." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have as this. Pray let me have the details." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the open." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, pound a week." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a once more to my work. least a fellow-countryman. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His and the church but not where the lady lived." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "It missed him, then?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature mystery." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "I cannot think." "'Ten to two.' the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, horse could go." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been later, upon the night of May 2nd." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to upon a handsome competence. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a views." entirely lost his self-respect." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "What do you mean?" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen be. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" back to my heart. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB business matters.' flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "She told me to ask you." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite