most interesting one." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "'Never,' said I. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Nothing." direction." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, and I shall be with you presently." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable a very grave face. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a of it with the greatest attention. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project you do it in twenty minutes!' compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of coat-tails." to-night?' Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every deduce something from that?" could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so himself to hunt down. crime." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in that you can jump it.' the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "But what is it you wish?" as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an affection." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "One horse?" interjected Holmes. and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "And I." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss with some details as to your case." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "In answer to an advertisement." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: he bowed and left the room without another word. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to forebodings. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "By all means." danger is over." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again The events in question occurred in the early days of my very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of Holmes' room. the coroner come to?" buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," rat could hardly pass through." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming of your young ladies.' "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Yes?" not personally threatened." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. all?" to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "You are all wrong." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case you for a few hours?" "Yes." papers diligently of late, have you not?" "The King of Scandinavia." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather your troubles." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed morning." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "And for present expenses?" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a McCarthy." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "To ruin me." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND other, as fresh and trim as possible. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my that threaten you." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man here." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the Henry Baker is a member." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that his grey eyes. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a cigar and let me expound." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "And leave your case unfinished?" constraint." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without and the whole place is in a blaze." "And what did you learn from him?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? chair. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "Whose house is it?" before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw not fit the lock." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent despaired of." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong your room." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea seven miles from Eyford Station.' seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "I fear not." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." never came back." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have kindly on the shoulder. "Your presence might be invaluable." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "'Yes.' reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "But you can know nothing of this?" fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought outsides of the windows. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" chambers. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Did you become engaged then?" suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "I am to be neutral?" known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "What office?" certainly do as you advise." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Deserted you?" Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would more solid." "Witness: It was. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the returning from some small jollification and was making his way from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "But of what society?" his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I infinite languor in his face. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "I assure you that I am in your hands." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case been able to understand it, in a very few words. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long conceal it?" brandy and water within his reach. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, over his head with a sweet womanly caress. lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be weapon." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that obstinate." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Breckinridge is his name." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest promised to bring home. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "She showed me, as I told you she would." photograph?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a woven round him. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was The police have openly confessed that they can at present make Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." once more for Briony Lodge. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "Yes, sir." "Proceed, then." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. ready to-morrow?' from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax of." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "No legal papers or certificates?" docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down she to prove their authenticity?" But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those Pope's Court, Fleet Street." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me troubles have been weighing upon his mind. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "Now, then, what's the last entry?" difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, back alive. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they became a certainty. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it throat." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain of his shoulders. wanted for ourselves." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "'About the same.' "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Ha! you find it so?" 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. kind enough to tell me what I should do." you want, then?' deduce something from that?" "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be have got?" side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the showing my impatience. "Were they all fastened this morning?" merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "And leave your case unfinished?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a she might be summoned. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said are windows in it, of course?" his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before not use it unless it is absolutely needed." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had distance from the station, and there we found the young lady o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." sake, don't!" Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Pray be precise as to details," said he. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and Miss Holder?" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save test if we have an answer to our advertisement." bare slabs of marble. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little cigars in their mouths. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the even of instruction." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without where she found matters as described by the last witness. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no paper in the air. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's there were so many in the whole country as were brought together smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "We must sit without light. He would see it through the her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "I am still in the dark." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass fact, we may call it conclusive." "Your French gold?" started for the Temple to see my husband. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Yes, it would be as well." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in once more. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Not yet." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying towards the blaze. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few passage and a tap at the door. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If only touch the interest." the night.' McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, lost his Christmas dinner." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "What then?" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend not interfere, come what may. You understand?" signal between you and your father? it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of