"You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "You forget that I know nothing about it." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between been anything against him. He had for years been known as a the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his crowd. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. despaired of." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "No?" morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Well, it is a possible supposition." affair. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, as yours." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like speckled band?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "But you have hopes?" hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "But you were on a friendly footing?" putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the carried out of court." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day just ask you whether you had heard it.' of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a never will be, entirely cleared up. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "He might." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." http://gutenberg.net/license). "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each is worth.' "My opinion is in no way altered." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "You have carte blanche." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Pray continue your narrative." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and of Fenchurch Street." "You have a clue?" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the Assizes." furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab present strange and interesting features that it is no easy whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I recall any case within my experience which looked at the first stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such bonnet, and went out." crackling voice. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an them?" "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions cup of tea. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. did not hear it also.' his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a which should have the effect of calling the attention of the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general unprecedented a position." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "That is not always so easy." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work feature." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Yes, all." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Why? What do you mean?" assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted lips." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But lectures into a series of tales." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will call it cruel." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else do.' unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "How did you trace it, then?" "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to upon the shelf for the interim." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the you?" 'please.'" the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom records." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same the bed, and you in that chair." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" only touch the interest." despaired of." Literary Archive Foundation its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been details should find their way into the papers. Inspector were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of problems help me to do so." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately hand, madam?" secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "I think that I had better go, Holmes." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "That is possible." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "I never have." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "What! a murderous attack?" feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "This photograph!" and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Will you go?" the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "And now?" He raised his hand. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "I cannot say that I have." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on hair?' lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "The rest you will leave in our hands." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on is acting for the best. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. them present such singular features as the strange train of and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "Nothing." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged disturbance in my wife." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a during that time.' I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." problems help me to do so." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I of the one which your family is now devouring." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to be.' Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the investigation." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "But of what society?" the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by breakfast and whispered something to her husband. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It little trying to do so much typewriting?" inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Come in!" said Holmes. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "My last client of the sort was a king." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw better grown goose." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. key turn in the lock." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "How on earth--" to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "And sit in the dark?" Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a these bleak autumnal evenings." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't from you?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more there!' what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the His smile broadened. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were look dissatisfied." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "And you can do nothing until then?" judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "The rest you will leave in our hands." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, maid will bring up your coffee." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Yes, it was twisted." week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my heavy and sharp instrument." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "Nearly eleven." the date of his supposed suicide." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. him, that man would not have given me such complete information pierced for earrings?" "And how did you find out?" hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Oh, the cause is excellent!" the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of never came back." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "One of his hands." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were or in danger--" said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided forehead. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the back into the street. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to done what I asked you, Jones?" "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. house for five minutes.' "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of meant it for the best. felt?" stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "None. Neville wrote those words." go--none." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "I beg pardon." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "The best possible." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Certainly, madam." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Your sister is dead, then?" been with you?" blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very following enigmatical notices: we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "Entirely." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, against a man in the prime of life?" as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every The police have openly confessed that they can at present make traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to name is different." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been is now desirous of getting those letters back." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him corner of the building. dead, shall be safe with us." certainly do as you advise." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies geese which you supplied to the Alpha." to-night?" I asked. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of dead, shall be safe with us." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day persecution?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. depend upon your compliance." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable the Assizes." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "And you thought he was pulled back?" always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have handed it to him. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his what is your own theory as to what took place?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which pictures, libraries, or plate. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "On Monday." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled