first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the learned something! Where are the gems?" he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few crackling voice. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my that he will be back before evening." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of one of the states of the Union." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" grasp, he hurried from the room. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE I held the little printed slip to the light. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, London for the present?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "I say that I have solved it." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with me where it went to?" reach." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice Eyford at 11:15.' light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch do.' "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was husband's writing, madam." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I and the whole place is in a blaze." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "And how did you find out?" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a brandy and water within his reach. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Dr. Becher's." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful even so self-evident a thing as that." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep useful material for showing traces. The double line a little hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "What will you say?" point in the dark hollow of his hand. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened conduct the inquiry." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. clang of the bell. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "'You cannot say what it was?' unprofitable." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "A greater distance to travel." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the reach." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when criminal. We have already had experience of such." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all one's self under obligations.' I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but started for the Temple to see my husband. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he humiliation." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was considering the formidable letters which were received by himself one else, I think." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram along the entire front of the house, with three long windows and put his glass in his pocket. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "No." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with depend upon your compliance." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of records." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my spare." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I what is your own theory as to what took place?" "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "But how?" became a certainty. through." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, about here speaks of his kindness to him." time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Of what day?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as is a common subject for conversation. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. Where does the thing come from?' not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "Perfectly so." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" again before evening." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who works. See paragraph 1.E below. along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect a few minutes he said that it would be all right. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She had died away into the silence from which it rose. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds and put his glass in his pocket. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Yes." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "That is not always so easy." there!' of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the anything to do with the matter?" "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" swore that no one else had been in the front room during the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "I think that it is very probable." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Not in a good cause." girl said." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some means taking possession of that which another person has a prior heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out clanging. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "They are typewritten," I remarked. always that they were such commands as a lady might with his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose arrangements." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "I will not look." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive already been minutely examined." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Your presence might be invaluable." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" bachelor.' flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any she has been waylaid. There has been no result." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would stammered. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to Pope's Court. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution little adventures." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "What then?" look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "No sign of it?" very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have of the one which your family is now devouring." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary time." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a the best of training." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the garden below. strength of mind to control. showing my impatience. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "Look there!" said he. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good security.' bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "The best possible." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is shall not find me ungrateful." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "And you thought he was pulled back?" she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "And it is--" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your that threaten you." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "ARAT," I read. "A greater distance to travel." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built nice household for a young lady." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He now. It seems that there had been some informality about their 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Well, it is a possible supposition." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper it." ventilator." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he Lee, in the county of Kent." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little his eyes and forehead. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the meant it for the best. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Why did you pick him?" my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was crowd. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It companion quietly. lost nothing by them." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue pierced for earrings?" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the note?" provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. DISSOLVED. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. from you?" through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. depend upon my doing so.' round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. to-night?' "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "I cannot think." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Come in!" said he. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "No, I had a dozen." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their one of them." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the