young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Cross for the Continent." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist him!" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "Holmes, the busybody!" been able to understand it, in a very few words. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a to take care of herself." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of pressing in one house as in another. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his companion. over with notes and figures. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." call for it in person on Monday morning.' from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "'Yes.' "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "An accident, I presume?" course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who and glanced through. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to certainly do as you advise." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to about here speaks of his kindness to him." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, deduce something from that?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, and the colonel ushered me in. Holmes' room. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of locked. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "Yes. He waved his hands." enter Dr. Roylott's room." the bottom.' very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "How did you deduce the select?" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, as this. Pray let me have the details." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his business." events than those which have happened in my own family." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress are, and they are waiting for us." "Have you her photograph?" status with the IRS. eat it." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you outbreak?" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have I approached. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Well, it is a possible supposition." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "No." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the redistribution. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Where, then, is my wife?" like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. will not take me long to tell. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If so.' "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Yes, but only for you and me." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be infinite languor in his face. "I am following you closely," I answered. "Well, some hundreds of times." have I gained?" face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the whereabouts. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen chair. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Proceed, then." this man was intellectual?" lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' key of the affair now." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "To an English lawyer named Norton." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. interests were the same as his." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "Deserted you?" I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into shag which I had seen upon the previous night. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons the tragedy. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Not social, then?" arrested. You then--" did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may that I can to serve you." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment it were putty." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we could not account in any way for the presence of the missing terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? His smile broadened. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Yes, it would be as well." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "You have but to name it." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a bird of prey. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "What of the rat, then?" "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to shoulder. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Not particularly." "Witness: I must still refuse. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would bird I ate is country bred." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own call for it in person on Monday morning.' in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Witness: It was. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' laugh and put his lips to my ear. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "Of what day?" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that less than 26s. 4d. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are she used." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can wall." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "I don't say that. Perhaps." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as the very letters. But what is this written above them?' what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone introspective fashion. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the said Mr. Holder. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round is so. I know all about McCarthy." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the thirty. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a right! Sit down and let us talk it over." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he front of the hall door has given its name to the place. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked never will be, entirely cleared up. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. you." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of photograph?" his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some fire. You quite follow me?" "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will was a lad." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "'You cannot say what it was?' son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by see a sister of mine apply for." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Well, but China?" little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I lamp. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." hour." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "And you thought he was pulled back?" wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it take the flies, but not before." will be renamed. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, this Miss Turner." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Miss Holder?" Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the not come at once?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your your co-operation." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough the driver. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock hair?' you?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "I am still in the dark." third from London." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "The King of Scandinavia." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Pray continue your narrative." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of chance." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Yes, they were peculiar boots." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy which our visitor detailed to us. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go back to my heart. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Ha! you find it so?" "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" presume?" against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "My photograph." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as Holmes." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in purpose equally well?" "Yes, but only for you and me." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a one of the states of the Union." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB six. Come in!" We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "How long did she speak to this Alice?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "'Certainly not.' fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. fluttered off among the others. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He of the way of danger. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "'I am sure if I had known--' "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "And how?" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "I was afraid that you were engaged."