trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he from the brougham. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. of Mr. Rucastle's." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and floor. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point have established a very serious case against the son of the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three crime. manager. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be did not hear it also.' reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there goes." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as showing my impatience. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Certainly." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are as yours." "Of Friday, June 19th." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and memory. hour?' any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for of the way of danger. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third Gutenberg-tm License. gigantic client. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be works. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important any." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "Pray be precise as to details," said he. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which could gather together that I was able to avert another public place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "It must be recovered." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting man. I know him from the photograph." for and were ordered to this address. opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "I cannot tell." the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." written. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good forecastle of an emigrant ship. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "I have come for advice." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door business?" importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the wall." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door was it brought him the coronet? Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "But how?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let returned to France?" "But you would not advise me to refuse?" of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Oh, yes, easily." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "To an English lawyer named Norton." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Street. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Not him." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Do you know him?" your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "Dr. Becher's." "And how did he make his money?" for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously http://gutenberg.net/license). excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, that which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "What of the rat, then?" that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had man. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. derbies." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." just ask you whether you had heard it.' hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece ways including including checks, online payments and credit card near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Well?" place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Why did you beat the pavement?" sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear written, and locked the door of the office after me. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise this unhappy family?" great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "To an end?" "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was how narrow had been my escape. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a three fields round his house, and there he would take his "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should highly," said Holmes. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. your sleep?' "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' me. You must get home instantly and act." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, My friend smiled. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, suddenly upon us." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder charge against him will break down." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and business." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is handed it to him. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' morning." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your their singular warning or token before them when starting upon light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "But I have heard all that you have heard." me have 200 pounds?' Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your had no one to advise her at such a crisis." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, visitors." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Where did he live, then?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of matter over." own family. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both do.' "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the evidence," I remarked. nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to been." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" good for you to do.' were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the me upon any point which I do not make clear." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "You heard nothing yourself last night?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call invisible to me," I remarked. bill, which interests me deeply." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both the iron safe, which he closed upon it. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. conclusions. in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a and prosperity to your house. Good-night." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander like gravel from a pit.' police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to geese which you supplied to the Alpha." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt vanished into the darkness. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap other means.' for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I client, rising. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, considering the formidable letters which were received by himself Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was is a common subject for conversation. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the morning." unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Then what has happened to him?" both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "An enemy?" At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "Ah!" Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through she might be summoned. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." cheerful." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Watson," he said cordially. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. six. Come in!" God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "How many? I don't know." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning think you a quite exceptional woman." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. he died? putting in the horse. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which true." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "But his lameness?" are, I think, all that we need." "I am about to be married." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of and inquire as to the address." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Then I shall certainly come." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination pressing in one house as in another. pictures, libraries, or plate. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was legal crime." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child whether it answered to the description of any of their was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Texas, I think." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a showing my impatience. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and written. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "To the police?" certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He of your young ladies.' "You have the photograph?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "'What then?' I asked. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, that you saw all that I did." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall third from London." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was over his head with a sweet womanly caress.