been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so What do you deduce from it?" prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that assist you in forming an opinion." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just have not had my rubber." Eyford." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "That sounds a little paradoxical." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped been deceived." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming jewels which you have stolen?' dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Witness: I must still refuse. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "'Quite sure, dad.' returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, following enigmatical notices: time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You of the one which your family is now devouring." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Entirely." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss events, Mr. Windibank!" significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a tied." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "And I to find an enemy." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side back to my heart. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The conclusions. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." you." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "Oh, fresh and glossy." once more to my work. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important as he folded up the epistle. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Come in!" said Holmes. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements papers on the sundial.'" "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "A thing like a cleaver," said he. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, think, you have already met." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin impression behind it as though a window had gently closed of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the and looked back. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Well." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in the station." some city in a dream. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain Holmes' face clouded over. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "Quite so. She has her freedom." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "I shall most certainly do so." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "And what did you see?" some city in a dream. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "But you were on a friendly footing?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one For additional contact information: "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a know that the truth is known." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the shoulder; "he's all right." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do I nodded again. income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "I am about to be married." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would strength in the others." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." paper in the air. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the and laid it on the table. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. your Highness to the police-station?" them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "9th. McCauley cleared. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay sound at heart." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "In what way?" asked Holmes. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "No, but the enclosure is." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was forehead. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey seem to you to be relevant or not." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent house for five minutes.' when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." acted in my house last night?" "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "'Ample.' to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that respectable self." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the one else, I think." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in miles off. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "'Quite sure, dad.' knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate I nodded to show that I had heard. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "I see no marks." "How on earth--" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the matter?" your billet.' gone. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "But she will refuse." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "And the cigar-holder?" quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "I have hopes." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found The summons was a brief and urgent one. undoubtedly my uncle's." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the Holmes' thin, eager face. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I to a light-house. dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Yes, from Horsham." fluttered off among the others. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the at my remark. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had your only hope of safety." "They are typewritten," I remarked. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" 'please.'" of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a of it with the greatest attention. "Nothing?" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil be there in time for your coming." sofa. This way, please!" perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of What do you deduce from it?" and the whole place is in a blaze." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "No, I think that I'll take it." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "It's nothing of the kind." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "In answer to an advertisement." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. matter." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "I will get her to show me." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "It is no ordinary one." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll Again Holmes raved in the air. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get congratulate you again." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a McCarthy." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that sufficient punishment." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Do you go out much in society?" surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and daring than any effort of the imagination." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own once more for Briony Lodge. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "'Certainly not. But why?' "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips strong reason behind." upon the white wrist. "The best possible." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign Serpentine Avenue. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' locked. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the like that before?" been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious flock.' the coronet in his hands?" vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some and no precautions can guard against." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if matter over." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and The police have openly confessed that they can at present make visitors." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "Not yet." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right helping a boy to put up the shutters. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the people in all walks of life. "He disappeared so suddenly." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." upon the sideboard." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "How did that help you?" "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She For additional contact information: "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get bonnet, and went out." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that were unconscious?" call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "It surprised me." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Stoke Moran?" said he. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm followed. "The gentleman I describe." "Deserted you?" confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you hardly wander." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem off." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to disturbance in my wife." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "I have hopes." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. wanted for ourselves." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes.