veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would details." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand amused." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a within hail.' "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the residence of the great financier. "Not in the least." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns I nodded again. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "And from a noble client?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, to-morrow." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" rat could hardly pass through." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the here and I will read it to you: what is your own theory as to what took place?" almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very Edgeware Road. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal have I gained?" Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, would then never go into court at all." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Then he might have called to you?" and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss suddenly upon us." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and Leadenhall Street--and--" "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, for its centre. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he photograph?" the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. me. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a row." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at read it out to me." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his since then to throw any light upon what became of him." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, fashion which was peculiar to him. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all Doctor, of the paper and the date." been shamefully used." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of the tragedy. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a him to be an active member of the medical profession." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, brought there to personate someone, and the real person is morning." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do a very grave face. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked awkward doing business with an alias." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "The landlord of the Alpha." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough your Highness to the police-station?" whereabouts. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his the matter?" met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire believe that I should never have any practice at all. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "I think it very unlikely." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to experiences." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress four million human beings all jostling each other within the "He slept on the premises." appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an knowledge of the world." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "I shall be delighted." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Bought." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "And I say east," said my patient. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Then what has happened to him?" rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "And who is her maid?" creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that The summons was a brief and urgent one. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. back alive. colonel looking down at me. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "BALLARAT." paper in the air. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" Dr. Gregory B. Newby labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "Where, then, is my wife?" his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to at home. telegram would bring me down to your help." "But she will refuse." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." really the only notable feature about the thing." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. had this final quarrel? The police have openly confessed that they can at present make made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among with the outside air!" "One of the highest in England." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is there!' ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "My last client of the sort was a king." "You horrify me!" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his to have that photograph." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "You horrify me." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I 1.F. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "But you were on a friendly footing?" it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson mysterious end." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "I answered that I had not. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and brandy and water within his reach. business?" pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a ashen face. II. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and I nodded to show that I had heard. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not and a shock of very red hair. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be depend upon my doing so.' fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "'Yes, sir.' and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Then, how do you know?" "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I have got?" see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are and put his glass in his pocket. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "Thank you. And your address?" What do you deduce from it?" therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "And why in hopes?" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in in your London, you will know that the office of the company is seem to you to be relevant or not." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A useful material for showing traces. The double line a little horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began not personally threatened." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another me. You must get home instantly and act." meant it for the best. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to crackling voice. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. records." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." could go. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in intrusion of other matters." "Stoke Moran?" said he. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "I should like to see him very much." me. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "He slept on the premises." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about anything to a woman, for she would have her way." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and lids now and glanced across at his visitor. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the man. to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very presume?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "Come in!" said Holmes. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting fuss that is made over them." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. tear off another piece?' extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his begin with, and I had not got mine yet." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having problems help me to do so." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "No, I think that I'll take it." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for sentimental considerations in the background which would induce placed his cuttings. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "That also I could fathom." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how as noiselessly as she had come. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you been lifted and conveyed somewhere." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return of Fenchurch Street." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case leaning back in his chair. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell three of the beryls in it, was missing. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few address. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door sentimental considerations in the background which would induce Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I most interesting one." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "I am armed." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Frequently." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "So I heard. You have him here?" significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "And you don't know his address?" shall use the carriage to-night." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "No, my brougham is waiting." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my You can understand that this register and diary may implicate inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "Yes." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free of the efforts of the United States government and of the better his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more,