eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Stoke Moran?" said he. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" depend upon my doing so.' with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts congenial hunt. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea the bottom.' and that he would see to anything that turned up. was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a ourselves in the office." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "But what harm can there be in that?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy it. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "I will not look." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "I think that I had better go, Holmes." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Pope's Court, Fleet Street." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery detective. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously tell him that I know him to be innocent." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and and that he would see to anything that turned up. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, at once, for I have only half an hour." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "I have my revolver," said I. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little you came in." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," me where it went to?" so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling to-morrow." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young acquaintance?" could not account in any way for the presence of the missing derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him Eyford at 11:15.' Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "Breckinridge is his name." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, mysterious end." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "They are typewritten," I remarked. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Yes, but only for you and me." suddenly upon us." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She up this clue while it is still hot." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his and the colonel ushered me in. some city in a dream. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. upon a handsome competence. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was go from here to the Strand." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four children over to America with him, so that I found myself without I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. discontent upon his features. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those touch that coronet?' know what is wrong with it.' lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a not come at once?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down man. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at touch that coronet?' at once, for I have only half an hour." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "The knees of his trousers." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange over his head with a sweet womanly caress. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "I cannot imagine." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished be best to do. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. awkward doing business with an alias." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "And I to find an enemy." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "But what is it you wish?" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "In the cells." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" business at Coburg Square is serious." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, the tragedy. something of him before." fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age salesman. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Entirely." the running down." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Very truly yours, "'Certainly,' I answered. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again over part of the map. "What do you read?" pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." plantation.' Count Von Kramm." while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "Yes." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps it were putty." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking the inquest, and which are worth considering." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, chair. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to nice household for a young lady." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left unprofitable." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "'What would be the hours?' I asked. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an asked. Clair, of Lee." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my good-night and bustled off upon her way. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "What steps will you take?" I asked. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future could not account in any way for the presence of the missing have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down hands. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from before, for it was considerably after midnight. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "I think it very unlikely." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror Heh?' fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or one else, I think." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is in his power. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room system of imprisonment?" "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face you came in." my friend's incisive reasoning. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "To an English lawyer named Norton." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with dramatic, in fact." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them absorbing." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair subject to the trademark license, especially commercial prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy it." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of hair?' his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips over part of the map. "What do you read?" downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a of the vacancies.' likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I was a lad." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "I am sure." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" despair." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of quick march!" from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "It certainly sounds feasible." "Texas, I think." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the about. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and had this final quarrel? "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "What I expected to see." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Munro.' However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San out." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was Dr. Gregory B. Newby reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Yes, from Horsham." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Yes. He waved his hands." despair." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." do.' He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "Perhaps I have." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "But your client--" it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "But you can know nothing of this?" pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Could he throw no light?" received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my and shall probably return to London by the evening train." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure fire. You quite follow me?" "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of to-night?' ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. better in every way that they should make their position a little "What! a murderous attack?" "'A dozen yards or so.' "No more words. Get out!" he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but leave you to your papers for a little." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in good for you to do.' Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "'Quite sure, dad.' no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I the night.' transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is hands. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I for securing the situation." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and