official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family orange pips. bell. Holmes whistled. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell galvanised. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into about. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "None. Neville wrote those words." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a helping a boy to put up the shutters. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "'It is locked up,' I answered. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Why? What do you mean?" "And is that all?" eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press notes," he said. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "Precisely." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, future lives." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made are, and they are waiting for us." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Witness: I must still refuse. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "Ten will be early enough." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past it." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in returned to France?" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable sound at heart." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very your own bird, so if you wish--" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "He slept on the premises." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon been able to understand it, in a very few words. "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the particular state visit http://pglaf.org this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how may never be exposed to such a temptation." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened friends, not even his own brother. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Very. But will he see it?" successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, in darkness. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "'I have heard so.' fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow train from Paddington which would bring you there at about impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a come either from the window or the door. My attention was Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is had a long day." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. in the hope of finding them." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as four million human beings all jostling each other within the on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "So I am. Very much so." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he he bowed and left the room without another word. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other walking." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the she might be summoned. "And why in hopes?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned photograph a cabinet?" "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his keep the flames under. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "And how did you find out?" violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "I am to be neutral?" such attractions and accomplishments?' "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall call you and give you the chance." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. could not have written that. It is the German who is so concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared You want to know what became of those geese?" "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the DISSOLVED. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "And when will you call?" second." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "A client, then?" furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. should be so warm over such a trifle." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had o'clock is it?" in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I used to be." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that you give your casting vote to?" other, as fresh and trim as possible. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, for the market.' "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' behind me. making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "How can you tell that?" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. IS resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "Now, then, what's the last entry?" which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no I approached. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent pierced for earrings?" home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited himself. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the returned to France?" if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. pierced for earrings?" would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years appeal." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her help us in this matter." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being DAMAGE. hurried away. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a standing smiling on the door-step. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Did he not advertise?" which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. was a perfect sample of the class. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he locked." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope young Openshaw's." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "It is half-past ten now." in the hope of finding them." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the with you?" tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "One of the highest in England." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened the driver. I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. voice, changing her seat as requested. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "You heard nothing yourself last night?" is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my happened." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is believe that I should never have any practice at all. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" and no precautions can guard against." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the discontent upon his features. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the examine." to have been novel and of interest." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Holmes' face clouded over. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known case before our client came into the room." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker is entirely a question of barometric pressure." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger lips." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Nothing?" home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "No, I had a dozen." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and quick march!" "His face fell immediately. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Dr. Becher's." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "You did not overhear what they said?" particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "One of the highest in England." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "No." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could 1.E.9. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "No. What a strange idea!" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. than to us. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "What then?" tell them apart.' "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "But how did you gain them?" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "The King of Scandinavia." man. "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the Holmes." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Indeed! Whose, then?" father's young wife. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Nothing." "Not social, then?" always that they were such commands as a lady might with "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, his wife has ceased to love him." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and very old mansion. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the coroner come to?" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. them?" "'A dozen yards or so.' fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "No, I had a dozen." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. to Leatherhead. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I don't believe it." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "I cannot imagine." at my own good fortune. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "I see many objections to any such theory." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "But we can't all be." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a this man was intellectual?" know that the truth is known." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Proceed, then." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to to-night." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would this man was intellectual?" we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "Do you go out much in society?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." the very morning of the wedding." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and room?" believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary which was all perfectly true.