for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the compunction about shooting them down." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "I cannot tell." used to be." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and what these perils are?" flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Munro.' London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "It was an hour's good drive." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into lips." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "Entirely." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of crime. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "'What do you call purely nominal?' newspaper selections." "Which are?" "Entirely." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Yes, all." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his may never be exposed to such a temptation." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to observed. across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." ago." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Of Friday, June 19th." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "She will not sell." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "We must sit without light. He would see it through the strength." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "'Yes.' "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears signal between you and your father? "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. is worth.' wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "I don't believe it." nice household for a young lady." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who brandy and water within his reach. golden eyeglasses. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" himself. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for appointment with me for six o'clock?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his thin legs towards the fire. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Really! You surprise me." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' disappearance of these gems?" miles off. was keenly on my guard against him. miles off. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "I beg pardon." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "What do you make of that, Watson?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of business matters.' 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and be there in time for your coming." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears unclasping of his long thin hands. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far to-night's adventure." "I think that it is very probable." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to arms and began to sob in a high treble key. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which hopeless attempt at recovering them." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "But she could not love him." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the kindly on the shoulder. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Henry Baker is a member." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." my secret was safe in his possession. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then points to suicide?" 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the may have an influence upon European history." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by window when the police appeared." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw fashion which was peculiar to him. noting anything else of interest. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. vault. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Then I do not see the point." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Frequently." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" him." "Certainly." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "So I have heard." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon with you alone." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting upon the white wrist. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late retorted upon me, and I on you." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I notes," he said. investigation." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to see a sister of mine apply for." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. case before our client came into the room." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" fait accompli?" even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "None." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. where we are going." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "You have the photograph?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting your sleep?' "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "'And what salary do you ask?' by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a see a sister of mine apply for." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn Lestrade of Scotland Yard." time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year Chief Executive and Director "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "But not more so than I to find you." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room things are very often connected not with the larger but with the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' of your young ladies.' "You did not overhear what they said?" which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the your troubles." tapping his fingers upon the table. "One?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. opened the door, and slipped through. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, it." time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their would then never go into court at all." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by The King stared at him in amazement. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in had a long day." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the to take care of herself." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was train.' wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, conduct the inquiry." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not happened." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly leaning back in his chair. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun never will be, entirely cleared up. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence washing it down with a long draught of water. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to placed his cuttings. her also." of it with the greatest attention. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a intimate personal affairs in this public manner." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal will not take me long to tell. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He there!' drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of I shall continue with my miserable story. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Nearly eleven." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Yes. He waved his hands." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "You have compromised yourself seriously." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal have I gained?" how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture the night.' astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction the general public were present, then?" conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "No, I had a dozen." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with Holmes. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up of the one which your family is now devouring." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal heavily into it. and your relations to her." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Pray be precise as to details," said he. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This way in everything. think that he is innocent?" telegram would bring me down to your help." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than open." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you October 9, 1890. is now desirous of getting those letters back." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which villagers almost as much as their master. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which with her." "Indeed! Whose, then?" should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old been with you?" "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be affair. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already crowd. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun always that they were such commands as a lady might with making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have hurried away. disturbance in my wife." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "My Mary? Impossible!" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her late!' "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any friend's singular character. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, which it had come upon my father." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "I see no marks." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Frequently." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by never will be, entirely cleared up. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "But to whom?" save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call said he. "You were travelling in the States?" out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at one's self under obligations.' who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For such attractions and accomplishments?' whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, horse could go." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "The landlord of the Alpha."