He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." get the tickets." "Yes, certainly." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even have been better. It is all right." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "In heaven's name, what for?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "'I have already given you my word.' events than those which have happened in my own family." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the on re-entering her father's house?" "No, my brougham is waiting." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King foresight and the moral retrogression?" broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I vanished into the darkness. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons affair. him." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "'And what salary do you ask?' The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "You horrify me!" and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and placed his cuttings. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "But the mystery?" "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "'Yes, sir.' the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous said he at last. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains you." me. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long the warnings." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, interested in these little problems, and since you are good once more. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. get the tickets." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to hardly wander." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The suddenly upon us." "Then the page we have seen--" newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" once more for Briony Lodge. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Pope's Court. London for the present?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "But how will you look?" wanted for ourselves." character. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "No more words. Get out!" father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" fuss that is made over them." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "No, I think that I'll take it." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon done what I asked you, Jones?" little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "But how did you gain them?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang disappearance of the bride.'" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Have you her photograph?" believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our murdered man." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step His name is Francis Prosper." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "'Yes, I promise.' it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and said he. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day have got?" Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "'And what salary do you ask?' "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his them?" question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "I am still in the dark." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "How did that help you?" window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "'I have heard so.' undoubtedly my uncle's." "And why?" "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor you." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that man. I know him from the photograph." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action official police." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "In the cells." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. companion imperturbably. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years spark where all is dark to me." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently you." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "One?" and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until that Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "In what way?" asked Holmes. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of not use it unless it is absolutely needed." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked the driver. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. are windows in it, of course?" I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "I am armed." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But quite distinctive." possible that we could bring him back to her? ceremony." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea became a certainty. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." prison!" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "'Where could I find him?' smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke persecution?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a round with crates and massive boxes. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought DISSOLVED. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was have one." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. she might be summoned. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an with you?" last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." and inquire as to the address." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" stammered. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little examine." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Frequently." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were instincts rose up against that laugh. floor. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this it." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Have you it here?" hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while clang of the bell. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "He slept on the premises." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the carpenter." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Not him." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did me. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she article?" "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "Yes." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day nothing with him." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You one's self under obligations.' did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish way in everything. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "I will get her to show me." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without and wait." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "My photograph." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Well." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at I have it here in my museum." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "It was an hour's good drive." back into the street. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "I beg pardon." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "Yes." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how call it cruel." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind detective. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away you want, then?' upon the white wrist. Mrs. Toller serenely. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying straightened it out again. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "About a month then." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "'Never,' said I. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it conversation I have gathered that they have been married about invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Then he might have called to you?" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Get out!" said he. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could standing smiling on the door-step. sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "I would give my fortune to have them back." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try nights." do.' his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was conceal it?" and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "Well?" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some forecastle of an emigrant ship. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Yes, it would be as well." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "How many? I don't know." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "9th. McCauley cleared. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it helping a boy to put up the shutters. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. your sleep?' From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, had this final quarrel? "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place know that the truth is known." interests were the same as his." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to said he. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the with some details as to your case." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City disappearance of the bride.'" gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole yet." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up to a light-house. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent