dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you himself in a perplexing position. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "How long did she speak to this Alice?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless the bed, and you in that chair." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special danger is over." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "On your arm?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" seven miles from Eyford Station.' had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "It is no ordinary one." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. side. became a certainty. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her said I. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then I shall communicate with you." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp approach us with offers to donate. brain must have something in it." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his you understand?" "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in to miss it." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon placed his cuttings. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there your Highness to the police-station?" back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he highroad, where all traces were lost. "Very murderous indeed." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from your co-operation." at my own good fortune. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the handed it to him. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you existence." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. there when the Rucastles went away." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two friends, not even his own brother. "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "That is easily got." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "A client, then?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" seven miles from Eyford Station.' "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I tear off another piece?' "I have my revolver," said I. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, acted in my house last night?" "Will you go?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. yards of it?' Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So meant it for the best. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute second." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just hand, madam?" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "From his hat?" "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Perhaps we may make them less so." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that where Mr. Fordham shows you.' Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon read it out to me." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were meanly of me." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Why did you pick him?" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will gigantic client. so.' thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It key of the affair now." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in from the brougham. "9th. McCauley cleared. in this way: some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant in this note: lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "I do." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "Precisely." you." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Watson," he said cordially. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be bird I ate is country bred." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring grasp, he hurried from the room. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was you do it in twenty minutes!' beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Not him." drove away. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "May I see it?" "Get out!" said he. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "But not more so than I to find you." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last fatally injured? manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Was she in good spirits?" the Assizes." disturbance in my wife." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' of the way of danger. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must to talk it over. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. would apply.' which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in down. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Dirty?" "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "My last client of the sort was a king." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your the date of his supposed suicide." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between system of imprisonment?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the eavesdroppers?' not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "But what is it you wish?" "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord of it with the greatest attention. I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is think that any burglar could have done. all-comprehensive glances. "Frequently." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by been with you?" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless to-night?" I asked. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are of his shoulders. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. the matter?" "Won't it ring?" "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was there were one or two details which were new to me. But the twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. chill to my heart. "Stoke Moran?" said he. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. front of me. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "I don't believe it." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. locked. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is unprecedented a position." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Bought." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have her also." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads could not account in any way for the presence of the missing Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." vanished into the darkness. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a simple cases which are so extremely difficult." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own the Red-headed League." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not the one as in the other." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close there!' and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been through." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." one of the states of the Union." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the posted to-day." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, putting in the horse. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the might help us?" say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, minor matters until to-morrow." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Really! You surprise me." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would considering the formidable letters which were received by himself horse could go." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought house for five minutes.' all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its father's young wife. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, hopeless attempt at recovering them." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you over here." has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then I am not easy in my mind about them." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do o'clock is it?" "I am about to be married." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot than was visible to me." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "None." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I you." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the beg that you will break it off." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have is four-and-twenty." soul! here is her carriage at the door." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "My private note-paper." wedding?" Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Who was the criminal, then?" robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had It was close upon four before the door opened, and a hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "'What then?' I asked. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to beg that you will break it off." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea think you a quite exceptional woman." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is if she died from some sudden fright." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "We have tried and failed." address. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "'What, the red-headed man?' IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by since then to throw any light upon what became of him." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Well, some hundreds of times." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "He said too much." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, horse could go." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and opened the door, and slipped through. companion quietly.