green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "In heaven's name, what for?" "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with His smile broadened. possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "At what time?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and better in every way that they should make their position a little The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under dates and names. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "'Certainly not. But why?' woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous do." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. instincts rose up against that laugh. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Certainly." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "Awake, Watson?" he asked. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my up this clue while it is still hot." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings crowd. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. crime." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a the morning and make my own way in the world.' grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have place no limit on the sum I may draw." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' http://gutenberg.net/license). into the bag, and made for the door. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young to arrive at through this?" corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." October 9, 1890. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove and no precautions can guard against." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." highly," said Holmes. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all new duties?' death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "'And the work?' the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "Murdered?" characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." chambers. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, Pope's Court, Fleet Street." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, absorbing." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "To ruin me." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that down in his armchair and closing his eyes. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need subject to the trademark license, especially commercial putting in the horse. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she hurried by. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the companion quietly. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Where, then?" misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "And how in the world did you find them?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always was the fact that his father should, according to his account, I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up awaited us upon the table. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, are, I think, all that we need." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible British peeress.'" been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "She walked into the breakfast-room." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not brought there to personate someone, and the real person is all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, not within a twentieth part of the market price." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography to that open window." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "One?" presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." companion quietly. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other to go into your room and bar your shutters?" beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, shall use the carriage to-night." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "'Yes, I promise.' round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very look upon these things in a different way." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by cup of tea. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "But you can know nothing of this?" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. character. that you wished to speak to me?' mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "In what way?" asked Holmes. ago." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott been lifted and conveyed somewhere." look dissatisfied." mystery!" his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my felt?" he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Not particularly." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am me, and I could not think that his explanation of the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual generous with you in money matters.' "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Game for a morning drive?" low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated followed. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would deduce something from that?" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very I leave." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "What I expected to see." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the any more." from the brougham. himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed writing, and yet I know it well." there has been an enclosure here!" 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" entirely lost his self-respect." "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" time." allusion to a rat. "That's no good." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "This photograph!" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this never came back." chance at all." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in cost them two and thirty pounds." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country experiences." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in in his power. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or McCarthy." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but photograph?" Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is happened." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that the coronet at all injured?" dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of in the dead of the night?' "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "'Is purely nominal.' "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her to arrive at through this?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "What can it mean?" I gasped. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they down from London to inquire more deeply into it." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of and inquire as to the address." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not father's place of business?" the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "I promise," said Holmes. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' again before evening." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of she to prove their authenticity?" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Certainly." Sutherland?" Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was fasten all the windows?" hard-headed British jury." "Yes." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "I will get her to show me." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young them, and came down just as you departed. http://gutenberg.net/license). was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a respectable self." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "I answered that I had not. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "I guessed as much." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "I say that I have solved it." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our had died away into the silence from which it rose. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which spare." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "Yes." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Certainly, madam." "'I am sure that I do not know.' As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Quite so. She has her freedom." "So I have heard." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and would apply.' Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "It is very clear." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Countess of Morcar's?" noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the be best to do. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Nothing?" neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "No. What a strange idea!" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. has little to do with my story." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a Gutenberg-tm License. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "About a month then." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train there were one or two details which were new to me. But the or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "There is the writing." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the and wait." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Holmes rather sternly. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that conceal it?" http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "It missed him, then?" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an head. So long, then!" There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble instincts rose up against that laugh. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in shag which I had seen upon the previous night. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither knowledge of the world." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough