troubles have been weighing upon his mind. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand new acquaintance to Baker Street. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The man. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow have not had my rubber." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "I do." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." for its centre. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I your bag." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare client, rising. said I. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather hard-headed British jury." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away ready to-morrow?' "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Just look it up, then." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you unclasping of his long thin hands. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every time." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and delighted to hear it," he said. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ a good hundred miles off by now." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his country, and eventually married, without anyone having a that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "'Is 4 pounds a week.' I have it here in my museum." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "I am in hopes that she does." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Imitated." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as to tackle the facts." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. guilty one." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "But we can't all be." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I forecastle of an emigrant ship. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know at home. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary friends, not even his own brother. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah photograph a cabinet?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. door?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, hour?' Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent the very morning of the wedding." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but feature." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to the ceiling. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we have accepted such a situation. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked late!' all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "I cannot imagine." questioning and rather startled gaze. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your Holmes' thin, eager face. "Here?" thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to would then never go into court at all." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is society." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the started for the Temple to see my husband. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "I was mad--insane." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain tied." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Not in the least." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "What of the rat, then?" forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and Pope's Court. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure the very morning of the wedding." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "And when will you call?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said out of this horrible affair." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it may have an influence upon European history." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "And your mother is alive?" which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his and that he would see to anything that turned up. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." in this note: "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "'Yes, I promise.' "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, What do you deduce from it?" yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning have one." crackling voice. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Well." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "Was there a secret marriage?" routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Entirely." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "That was it, sir." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "The rest you will leave in our hands." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his and no precautions can guard against." whether it answered to the description of any of their death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done affection." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. other means.' "No." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Yes." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make returned to France?" said he at last. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of quick march!" brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "It surprised me." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "No?" "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who absorbing." "And how did you verify them?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three late." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a been lifted and conveyed somewhere." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the floor. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name experiences." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly hour." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." was feeling which was the fattest.' Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind amused." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not would apply.' Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "But you would not advise me to refuse?" daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. never will be, entirely cleared up. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his papers must be those that are destroyed.' "'I have heard so.' time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I the Assizes." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and thought that she would have been so carried away." held up the lantern and gazed about him. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. until night should bring an explanation. with frightened eyes at his accuser. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have see a sister of mine apply for." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," McCarthy's innocence. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were in my life." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." society." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with extraordinary contortions. "What are they?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to there." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "I was certainly surprised to find you there." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version to tackle the facts." definite end. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the rooms." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "And Miss Sutherland?" after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "You have a clue?" man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing prove to be little relation between the different incidents of will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "But not more so than I to find you." "It was." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "Nothing." salesman. advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which go--none." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Yes." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" nights." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one outside. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address the coronet in his hands?" "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "I say it is." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the train.' In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of Holmes." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. photograph?" sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, Gutenberg-tm License. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between if she died from some sudden fright." within hail.' and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. not fit the lock." "But your client--" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "He is still with you, I presume?" he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage intimate personal affairs in this public manner." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself during the last few years, and there are many noble families to the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my your only hope of safety." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of will take you up to see the machine.' 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." go from here to the Strand." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "He slept on the premises." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had trying to your nerves." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the into the room. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business matter over." him and tried to hold him back. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with and shall probably return to London by the evening train." with you?" second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I your only hope of safety." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was unprofitable." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when mystery!" went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. written, and locked the door of the office after me. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either Lee, in the county of Kent." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and yourselves in at night?" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "Seven!" I answered. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the thirty. there was no need for father to know." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark London for the present?" "Yes. He waved his hands." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should really the only notable feature about the thing." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming grasp, he hurried from the room. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any and the colonel ushered me in. "I should be immensely obliged to you." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." 'please.'" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "'About the same.' "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing