that I can to serve you." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; about. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country is entirely a question of barometric pressure." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have place, I think that there is good ground to think that the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Entirely." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these voice, changing her seat as requested. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I and the whole place is in a blaze." from the brougham. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had highroad, where all traces were lost. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we are, I think, all that we need." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the triumphant cloud from his cigarette. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing before the coroner and the police-court." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I neither fascinating nor artistic." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a until night should bring an explanation. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim it." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "You have the photograph?" thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had stepfather?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather attention." dates and names. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use in a friendly supper." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Yes." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It too. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who tension within him. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his bed dies. Does not that strike you?" - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all danger is over." cause to be." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "Pray tell us what has happened to you." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I cigar and let me expound." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' copied or distributed: maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped fait accompli?" to some other building. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted time." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions seen the man in the road." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "What, then, did Peterson do?" too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" strength in the others." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up characteristics, but those are the more obvious." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A bears upon the case?" pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four dates and names. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "What then?" "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few past. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Yes." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at said I. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "You forget that I know nothing about it." clang of the bell. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "Witness: I must still refuse. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss tightly behind him. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "No, I think that I'll take it." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Sutherland. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "What can you not understand?" predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you depend upon my doing so.' examination of the premises, but without finding anything which deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "How can you tell that?" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the telegram would bring me down to your help." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is invisible to me," I remarked. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to way in." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "No." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is roused himself from his reverie. discontent upon his features. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Has he come with you to-night?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point just ask you whether you had heard it.' upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "Your sister is dead, then?" "I cannot tell." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your opened a pocket-book and took out a note. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault brandy and water within his reach. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in some terrible trap for her." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Entirely." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other shall use the carriage to-night." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' what I may call a really hard day's work." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "What do you make of that, Watson?" events, Mr. Windibank!" open." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "Certainly." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily wedding?" you in your example." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "We have tried and failed." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "Yes." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the answer." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to danger is over." this Miss Turner." "What will you say?" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "No, finished." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "When did she vanish, then?" walking." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of at once, for I have only half an hour." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" of a light. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "What is it?" envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open presume?" hard-headed British jury." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Witness: It was. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our photograph a cabinet?" his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "It is to him that this trophy belongs." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' was feeling which was the fattest.' remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men front of me. fait accompli?" had formerly been in part my own. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that points to suicide?" unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you legal crime." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "It was an hour's good drive." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. I leave." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be horse could go." business matters.' "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we noble correspondent could be. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project thin legs towards the fire. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on business in the City. She little knew what. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "And how in the world did you find them?" had formerly been in part my own. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "It is possible." John Swain, of St. Augustine. detective. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "In San Francisco, a year ago." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "I say it is." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "'Where could I find him?' business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in the coroner come to?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy highly," said Holmes. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. which was all perfectly true. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in and inquire as to the address." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and redistribution. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "About a month then." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. golden eyeglasses. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the done what I asked you, Jones?" - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Entirely." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I me. You must get home instantly and act." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "'Never.' of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three I have it here in my museum." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled round with crates and massive boxes. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been leave you to your papers for a little." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "What steps will you take?" I asked. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of been with you?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my served to weaken the effect. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon you." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, an introduction to him?" the devil!" To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A I approached. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. round and wave him away like that.' dates and names. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "He disappeared so suddenly." heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "Ah!" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll train.' her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never