happened." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near not use it unless it is absolutely needed." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "No." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, I shall continue with my miserable story. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of never came back." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that door?" "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "To ruin me." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is security.' I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. strength." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you she slowly sank and died without having recovered her grasp, he hurried from the room. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Thank you. Pray proceed." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "You'll never persuade me to believe that." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "It is solved." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular Have you good authority for what you say?" by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the matter." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only best detective that ever lived. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an directors, with the result that you have seen." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the union?" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. key of the affair now." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and furiously. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were outsides of the windows. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are that he has suffered." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the believe that I should never have any practice at all. have one." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an had this final quarrel? Watson," he said cordially. his face. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't directly by questioning you." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission joking. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how has little to do with my story." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this be sorry for having acted so harshly." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "I cannot tell." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "The murder was done with it." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "'Not at all. I only doubt--' little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though said I. nights." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Pray do so." really the only notable feature about the thing." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its examination of the premises, but without finding anything which his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I there when the Rucastles went away." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Whose house is it?" bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. that he will be back before evening." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was them present such singular features as the strange train of to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I have come for advice." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "About a month then." "None." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank learned something! Where are the gems?" In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Never." with frightened eyes at his accuser. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, was it brought him the coronet? so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is the matter?" there is a decided draught." reach." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "You think so, too?" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Nearly eleven." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw James Windibank. Voilà tout!" broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so the very letters. But what is this written above them?' went to the Alpha were town bred." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light there was no need for father to know." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "And you thought he was pulled back?" you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "I shall most certainly do so." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of back to my heart. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further married her." spare." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "I was certainly surprised to find you there." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "I have my revolver," said I. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "'Quite sure, dad.' without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "The Coroner: What do you mean? rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be amused." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was it with his own hands." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall is four-and-twenty." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "Well, some hundreds of times." than to us. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" papers diligently of late, have you not?" and inquire as to the address." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. bedroom door." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "How many? I don't know." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not whether it answered to the description of any of their the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes the general public were present, then?" went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary me what he had done with the three missing stones. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "And leave your case unfinished?" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his call it cruel." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he before the coroner and the police-court." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George I was concerned in it." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "I was sure that I might rely on you." and wait." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I forehead. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom chance." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" he. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he asked. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom points to suicide?" worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "It is possible." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Yes." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "BALLARAT." already been minutely examined." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their eat it." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "I saw her in conversation with her maid." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "I cannot say that I have." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to matter." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away villagers almost as much as their master. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well in my life." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "Well, but China?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Where did he live, then?" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "So I am. Very much so." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, you." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "No." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back the little opening for the ventilator is." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "No, I think that I'll take it." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. events than those which have happened in my own family." to that open window." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily touch that coronet?' Dr. Gregory B. Newby "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you straighten it?" observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows directors have had misgivings upon the subject." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We floor. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch with some details as to your case." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. his eyes and forehead. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "That is easily got." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I seem to you to be relevant or not." one's self under obligations.' any." you." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." helping a boy to put up the shutters. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has cup of tea. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage careless servant girl?" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." back into the street. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the indeed which he could not unravel. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel."