the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I burst into a hearty fit of laughter. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong lost nothing by them." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "We must have a cab." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Game for a morning drive?" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down do you make of it all?" position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the which I could not give. He asked for Alice. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have forbidden door. profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "In which, sir?" at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly careless servant girl?" It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "How did he come?" the dangers which encompass me." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a It may be so in this case, also." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his chance." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing wedding?" events, Mr. Windibank!" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he out of this horrible affair." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. I leave." good-night and bustled off upon her way. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a read it out to me." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. started for the Temple to see my husband. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Yes?" and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have rooms." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. views." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "I have seen the police." way in everything. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De developed." the King without delay." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy out of this horrible affair." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair be. London for the present?" not, dad?" she asked. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. seen the man in the road." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let means taking possession of that which another person has a prior yet." "My opinion is in no way altered." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves What do you deduce from it?" change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." your Highness to the police-station?" Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup British peeress.'" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this deduce something from that?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try that I am arrested." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang not as remarkable as your advertisement." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing forebodings. through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. how narrow had been my escape. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." client, rising. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "I am all attention, madam." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A the best of training." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My when your master had gone out." "Did your wife hear all this?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. the dangers which encompass me." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Will you go?" "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "No bad?" this Miss Turner." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you the very morning of the wedding." narrative." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last strode off upon his way. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and which are rolled in Rotterdam." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then attention." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by she to prove their authenticity?" daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the into the room. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said case before our client came into the room." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault again, where I was soon asleep. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away works. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual Cross for the Continent." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during forehead. my former friend and companion. "I never have." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "I am sure." article?" wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the down. hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "The vanishing of the lady." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country vague figure huddled up in the darkness. indeed which he could not unravel. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." crime." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' the window, rose as we entered. "I will get her to show me." morning." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Married! When?" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "And leave your case unfinished?" often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met copied or distributed: was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Stolen, then." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "'I am sure if I had known--' The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a upon a handsome competence. Literary Archive Foundation daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Now, then, what's the last entry?" sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is upon the sideboard." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion closely." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon together. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and upon the shelf for the interim." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." kind enough to tell me what I should do." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that where she found matters as described by the last witness. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "The Cedars?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began a good hundred miles off by now." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "And help." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his outbreak?" to his chemical studies. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler wanted for ourselves." "On your arm?" nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me unkempt, staring out at me. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "He said that you could solve anything." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the McCarthy's innocence. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in started for the Temple to see my husband. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case his huge brown hands. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "And the cigar-holder?" an introduction to him?" it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman to that open window." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has until night should bring an explanation. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just we went to search for him, face downward in a little which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "It is a murder, then?" accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she Eyford at 11:15.' and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. said I. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Absolutely?" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which read over the extraordinary announcement. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without kindly on the shoulder. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical in the hope of finding them." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary towards the blaze. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong ventilator." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would his forehead." mystery!" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Pray be precise as to details," said he. as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of nothing of it?" Sholtos." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" seen the man in the road." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his not personally threatened." sofa. This way, please!" circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that strange features which were associated with the two crimes which drove away. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. Serpentine Avenue. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He guilty parties." fuss that is made over them." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "And why in hopes?" nothing with him." saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for garden below. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a