really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out relief. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "It is possible." just called myself is not exactly my own." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called persecution?" attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "None. Neville wrote those words." "To an end?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as appeal." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when character. third from London." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "You did not overhear what they said?" character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set congenial hunt. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck name is different." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that of." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "And how have you succeeded?" after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when night.' said he. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then ashen face. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we that threaten you." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a tension within him. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to way in." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "How did he come?" and effective." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "Yes. He waved his hands." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the matter." business at Coburg Square is serious." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no is now desirous of getting those letters back." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by who was a member of your goose club." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which chance." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "It was." "Yes, only one." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made the coronet in his hands?" McCarthy." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I photograph?" As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Breckinridge is his name." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "One?" seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and kindly on the shoulder. he bowed and left the room without another word. "'How far from the body?' "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Yes, that is the Crown." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to disturbance in my wife." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be without a word or a look. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the pound a week." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he returning from some small jollification and was making his way a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently likely to be some crony of the landlady's." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'Never.' him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, Does that suggest anything?" down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." conduct the inquiry." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "You know me, then?" Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "None." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' before, for it was considerably after midnight. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he miles off. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Ample." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses to arrive at through this?" the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking your room." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "She walked into the breakfast-room." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any dates and names. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were most important business. It is probable that he will be away all chance." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be to arrive at through this?" horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "You horrify me!" "Was your sister dressed?" signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her Does that suggest anything?" wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Tired-looking or fresh?" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot asked. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which so far?" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from question. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much to-night." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the experiences." you in your example." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not to tackle the facts." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Pray be precise as to details," said he. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly the very letters. But what is this written above them?' squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Why did you beat the pavement?" many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and get the tickets." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other outside. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own seem to you to be relevant or not." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great drove away. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the but preventing her from injuring another. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double the coronet at all injured?" a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Do you receive much company?" he asked. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with directors have had misgivings upon the subject." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the that I may have something better before very many minutes are "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to public press." shaken than I had ever seen him. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "What then?" immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my I nodded to show that I had heard. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is clang of the bell. main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Which surely he restored to their owner?" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always one else, I think." foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the gbnewby@pglaf.org absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her in a very precise fashion." clanging. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "And from a noble client?" said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my passage and a tap at the door. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country status with the IRS. to surprise her." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "I guessed as much." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "Nor running a chance of arrest?" distinguish the words: husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the question," said Holmes, smiling. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "'Very good.' whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my where she found matters as described by the last witness. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "I think it very unlikely." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a place of silver." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in dead, shall be safe with us." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Yes, it was twisted." place no limit on the sum I may draw." row." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to and I shall be with you presently." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, village inn over there?" all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough miles off. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. the loss of it. I. "It is his hat." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of I nodded to show that I had heard. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and even so self-evident a thing as that." disappearance of these gems?" "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned kind enough to tell me what I should do." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less been shamefully used." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. congenial hunt. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said photograph?" river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he you." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "By no means." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated what these perils are?" my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible who was a member of your goose club." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the the room while you explain this matter?" money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "The gentleman I describe." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "And what then?" find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she mystery may be cleared along those lines." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "I will not look." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Well?" after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I dates and names. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must than was visible to me." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of and laid it on the table. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead whatever might befall. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a experiences." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, your only hope of safety." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not in a very precise fashion." "There is the writing." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "In which, sir?" thin, with a long, sharp nose?" He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone.