yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Holmes' thin, eager face. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a danger is over." there has been an enclosure here!" which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "Then how many are there?" though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" of this gang." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's the very morning of the wedding." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of quick march!" "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your have not had my rubber." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of do.' "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." gives a meaning to it." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is himself in a perplexing position. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "What! You do not mean bodies?" in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "What steps will you take?" I asked. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. front of me. matters immensely." "It is his hat." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, at my remark. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such http://www.gutenberg.net and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. we went to search for him, face downward in a little night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. appeal." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a chance at all." here." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "By all means." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was could not have written that. It is the German who is so "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "No. His orders were to stay in the house." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless highly," said Holmes. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." http://gutenberg.net/license). signal between you and your father? "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Then the page we have seen--" thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the problems help me to do so." within hail.' and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he galvanised. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "I am following you closely," I answered. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that amused." him, that man would not have given me such complete information cigars in their mouths. and the church but not where the lady lived." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Where did he live, then?" "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs The note was undated, and without either signature or address. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "And I to find an enemy." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, call for it in person on Monday morning.' hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, narrative." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the him to go away.' asked with his eyes open. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered make me his representative both with the servants and with the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." out of this horrible affair." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Not yet." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear the so-precious time, but come!' "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always important." "Always." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Where to?" the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You his huge brown hands. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those the best of training." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at during the last few years, and there are many noble families to wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There But Holmes shook his head gravely. "Yes." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices of them has the shutters up.' "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "What will you say?" case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, soul! here is her carriage at the door." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "'Yes, it was gone.' banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, your room." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "I shall most certainly do so." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "And now?" I asked. appointment with me for six o'clock?" journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Witness: Nothing definite. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good a suggestive one." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after strode off upon his way. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself address. "I have my revolver," said I. himself in a perplexing position. "The doctor?" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him and looked back. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "ARAT," I read. maiden herself was most instructive." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I compunction about shooting them down." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us the house with me." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "I have come for advice." know what is wrong with it.' ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this nonsense.' of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I stood on the top of it. time." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the made him keep the appointment." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how 'I should be able to look after that for you.' then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife village inn over there?" until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "I cannot imagine." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his crowd. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. something of him before." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, you." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and hard-headed British jury." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. I nodded to show that I had heard. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the standing smiling on the door-step. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Get out!" said he. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious desk. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away of Mr. Rucastle's." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who very peculiar words of the dying woman?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "I have my revolver," said I. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a enter into my head. arrangements." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies been able to understand it, in a very few words. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." his fortune, and I went back to pa. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as my room." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called highroad, where all traces were lost. too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the soul! here is her carriage at the door." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some vanished into the darkness. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "The King of Scandinavia." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a been shamefully used." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." own family. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of rat could hardly pass through." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Your presence might be invaluable." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had over with notes and figures. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "It is very clear." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "When did it break out?" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern to-night's adventure." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "If I can be of use." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Thank you. Pray proceed." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, figure." a very grave face. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to never came back." in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the excitement. through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the who was a member of your goose club." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very there!' unclasping of his long thin hands. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had room. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. answered with a sidelong glance. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to maiden herself was most instructive." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "Pray let us have it, for all that." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short like that before?" noise which awoke you from your sleep?" heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "Come in!" said he. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to used to be." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "What can it mean?" I gasped. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "'I have already given you my word.' said I. Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "'Then let me do so?' You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of disappearance of the bride.'" good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." of it with the greatest attention. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you over his head with a sweet womanly caress. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself