delirious. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at the iron safe, which he closed upon it. points to suicide?" and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass to-night's adventure." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this thought that she would have been so carried away." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in It may be so in this case, also." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "It is very kind of you." bare slabs of marble. "My dear Holmes!" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, hands. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were galvanised. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to had formerly been in part my own. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "But not more so than I to find you." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Imitated." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Holmes, the busybody!" young Openshaw's." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of hopeless attempt at recovering them." "I do." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with train from Paddington which would bring you there at about comes from the middle window." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his interested in these little problems, and since you are good those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and sparkled upon his finger. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "But how will you look?" wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his very peculiar words of the dying woman?" and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in suddenly upon us." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one and that he would see to anything that turned up. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "It came here." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again noting anything else of interest. "Frequently." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you six. Come in!" "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "What office?" "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "That is easily got." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "But his lameness?" singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the me where it went to?" stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "But to whom?" in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless Holmes' thin, eager face. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Then I shall certainly come." careless servant girl?" Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the throat." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "'There is a drive, then?' "Then I can wait in the next room." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "Not in the least." "What have you to say now?" "By no means." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement lost nothing by them." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round hair?' late!' is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "It is possible." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could good for you to do.' "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." weapon." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to next day. man. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had was shining brightly. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" noting anything else of interest. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose sofa. This way, please!" arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "No, but the enclosure is." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Cross for the Continent." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is jewels which you have stolen?' to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord most important business. It is probable that he will be away all the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Won't it ring?" position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was it right.' very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. himself. "But not more so than I to find you." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "I should like to see him very much." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "No." "Pray do so." tell me that you intended to go into harness." in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good have an American origin." his face. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. hour." "Deserted you?" "It is possible." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 do.' gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I imbecility!" he cried. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "It is very kind of you." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock lost his Christmas dinner." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as not within a twentieth part of the market price." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, you came in." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his empty. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." recover the gem." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to something of him before." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black about here speaks of his kindness to him." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in with the outside air!" "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a rat could hardly pass through." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few Miss Holder?" morning." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our behind me. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my and the whole place is in a blaze." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. brain must have something in it." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. thought that she would have been so carried away." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. point in the dark hollow of his hand. "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "The King of Scandinavia." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "And I." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. national property. I was determined that the law should have its "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Your French gold?" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? the matter." to a more successful conclusion." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of burst into a hearty fit of laughter. himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "'Which dealer's?' "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I own family. joking. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Absolutely none." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "What is it?" your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "He disappeared so suddenly." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of back into the street. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "How did you deduce the select?" arms and began to sob in a high treble key. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the ashen face. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man have established a very serious case against the son of the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the promised to bring home. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "And Miss Sutherland?" have had none more fantastic than this." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "My dear Holmes!" wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry you." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon more solid." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Holmes rather sternly. one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just to a more successful conclusion." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn and that he would see to anything that turned up. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some perplexity from it to my illustrious client. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. This is what he says: "Proceed, then." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too paper in the air. "We have tried and failed." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Nothing?" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from goes." in this note: nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the gone. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." conduct the inquiry." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "I have my revolver," said I. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was it." "What!" he roared. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, his grey eyes. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his congenial hunt. outside. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "He is dead," cried several voices. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "'Certainly not. But why?' people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with ran thus: 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having suspect him." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Well?" rooms." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." address. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the tell him that I know him to be innocent." success. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "From his hat?" "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked