was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what investigation." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of and the colonel ushered me in. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I which our visitor detailed to us. envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of night.' said he. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty tension within him. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "But what will you do?" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my had formerly been in part my own. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Yes." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "That sounds a little paradoxical." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the that you wished to speak to me?' IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I hereditary King of Bohemia." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington sneer upon his pale face. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and spare." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was and laid it on the table. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always the loss of it. know what is wrong with it.' events, Mr. Windibank!" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Frequently." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and of campaign. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "And how did he make his money?" will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while purpose equally well?" "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to take the flies, but not before." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you overpowering excitement and concern. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "It is possible." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "This concluded the examination of the witness." away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, in darkness. gentleman's clothes. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while empty. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Not I." do." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "Yes, sir." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' searched, without anything being found which could incriminate the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "And I say east," said my patient. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line business matters.' his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our fluttered off among the others. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY until night should bring an explanation. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for secret." showing my impatience. said I. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that some place of shelter and let the county police know what has pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "It must be recovered." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' time." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she Pool. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "'What do you call purely nominal?' as noiselessly as she had come. "And I say east," said my patient. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he villagers almost as much as their master. the window, rose as we entered. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation amused." corner of the building. screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "What will you say?" inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and and I shall be with you presently." the loss of it. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the have got?" grasp, he hurried from the room. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "How on earth--" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." your co-operation." like gravel from a pit.' we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my bill, which interests me deeply." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "How did you trace it, then?" my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I tightly behind him. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to figure." business." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "'How far from the body?' "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. young Openshaw's." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "What is it?" company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the the station." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his breakfast and whispered something to her husband. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "And when will you call?" waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I said he. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to easy-going way." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an of Mr. Rucastle's." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their walking." less than 26s. 4d. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "And how have you succeeded?" salesman. "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Precisely so. But how--" unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into she used." stepfather?" hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was could go. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me Literary Archive Foundation "The Coroner: What do you mean? his cane at the bell-pull. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own experiences." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Why, what do you mean?" "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He I nodded to show that I had heard. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had chill to my heart. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his into the bag, and made for the door. "None." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Only as much as we can deduce." second." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird companion. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There locked. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always future lives." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "But you were on a friendly footing?" "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "And now?" I asked. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, miles off. trying to your nerves." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been friends, not even his own brother. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "Yes." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line from the brougham. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the ran thus: "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Yes." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; meanly of me." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "What can it mean?" I gasped. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there said I. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a and your relations to her." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and depend upon my doing so.' The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "What shall I do?" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, I have it here in my museum." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." to you." "Do you know him?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the and I shall be with you presently." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and him." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your were new raised from a basin. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "You will not go there first?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "None." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Yes." bonnet, and went out." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "Yes, sir." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I I am not easy in my mind about them." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." wedding?" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the