some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "I beg pardon." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. meant." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as place, I think that there is good ground to think that the Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. I. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, and capable of preserving a secret.' instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Pray do so." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to held up the lantern and gazed about him. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Of what?" was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down child?' would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This me have 200 pounds?' action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, from the brougham. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" indeed happy." this unhappy family?" which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Which are?" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Certainly." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "In answer to an advertisement." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to of your young ladies.' horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Can I be of assistance?" faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "It was an hour's good drive." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "No. What a strange idea!" child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Indeed! Whose, then?" American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the of." of your young ladies.' rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "I say it is." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural things are very often connected not with the larger but with the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, habit of advancing money.' before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save said I. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "I never have." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this head. So long, then!" little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous at once, for I have only half an hour." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after roused himself from his reverie. "She told me to ask you." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy way in." "Stolen." ordinary clothes on?" last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" about here speaks of his kindness to him." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "One of his hands." "He is still with you, I presume?" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "If I can be of use." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "'What are you doing there?' he asked. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "And leave your case unfinished?" "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy directly by questioning you." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking which I could not give. He asked for Alice. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of was the fact that his father should, according to his account, us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Yes, sir." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, money should be paid at once.' direction." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "But what will you do?" of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then only touch the interest." suddenly upon us." acted in my house last night?" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "Only as much as we can deduce." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster again before evening." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "Very well, sir. And this stone?" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded yourselves in at night?" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic the running down." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears this as likely?" make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with over with notes and figures. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Yes, he did." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do matter over." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself American. Then who could this American be, and why should he carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as went to the Alpha were town bred." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Holmes. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we strange features which were associated with the two crimes which ventilator." "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "It is to him that this trophy belongs." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall affair. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "I am about to be married." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to prison!" that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of back alive. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had experiences." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this stammered. "So I heard. You have him here?" deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to breakfast?" second window is the one that I jumped from." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and as he folded up the epistle. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Mary, has deserted me." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. be.' It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" kindly on the shoulder. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "But what will you do?" washing it down with a long draught of water. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "'You cannot say what it was?' and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "No bad?" sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "How often?" "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the relief. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his in his hands." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon not within a twentieth part of the market price." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his yards of it?' observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point reach." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old ashen face. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "I don't believe it." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "'Never.' and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until some mystery and the punishment of some crime." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "How did you deduce the select?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, breakfast." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was crackling voice. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "No good news?" between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "And what then?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." know what is wrong with it.' foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "Come in!" said Holmes. "Look there!" said he. this Miss Turner." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here down from London to inquire more deeply into it." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "You have a clue?" in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "But how could you guess what the motive was?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the the ceiling. and laid it on the table. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned Literary Archive Foundation first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "What can you not understand?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Because he was handy and would come cheap." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity gives a meaning to it." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party tension within him. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss fashion which was peculiar to him. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. depend upon my doing so.' Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that always that they were such commands as a lady might with servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "'You doubt its value?' he asked. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Who by?" In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "You did not overhear what they said?" innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies train from Paddington which would bring you there at about pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and vague figure huddled up in the darkness. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "You horrify me!" flock.' to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we II. "Of what day?" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a have not had my rubber." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." room?" "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would has little to do with my story." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his