relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. showing my impatience. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "10th. John Swain cleared. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window the bed, and you in that chair." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my impression behind it as though a window had gently closed half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little meant it for the best. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Pray tell us what has happened to you." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon against a man in the prime of life?" be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain papers." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the guilty one." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the train.' mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding straightened it out again. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' pictures, libraries, or plate. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "No sign of it?" Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "No bad?" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" business in the City. She little knew what. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Serpentine Avenue. "'You cannot say what it was?' and that he would see to anything that turned up. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, threw himself down with his face to the pillow. will not take me long to tell. never to learn it at all." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "Here?" regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "And when will you call?" sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me place, I think that there is good ground to think that the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a with you alone." your Highness to the police-station?" and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang newspaper selections." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "And help." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more appointment with me for six o'clock?" Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the meant it for the best. system of imprisonment?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his delighted to hear it," he said. like gravel from a pit.' "Not in the least." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we house for five minutes.' you do it in twenty minutes!' indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off said he at last. of the one which your family is now devouring." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what your only hope of safety." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some if only as a check to my own memory." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." chambers. you understand?" "Where, then?" the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." brain must have something in it." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As know that the truth is known." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "'As governess?' you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "Bought." asked with his eyes open. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "Then I can wait in the next room." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Ample." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the system of imprisonment?" house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was as he folded up the epistle. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "So I have heard." depend upon my doing so.' green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "'Yes, sir.' claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "None." fact, we may call it conclusive." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to like that before?" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "But how?" ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have just ask you whether you had heard it.' telegram would bring me down to your help." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and up this clue while it is still hot." presume?" seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right once more on the important position which you have been fortunate dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "I know where it is." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "It was an hour's good drive." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "You have a clue?" earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would dramatic, in fact." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" matter." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to highly," said Holmes. outside." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "I am in hopes that she does." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "The knees of his trousers." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich intimate personal affairs in this public manner." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "What can it mean?" I gasped. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "The gentleman I describe." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, absorbing." as yours." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for have accepted such a situation. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window page at http://pglaf.org bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Yes." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Your presence might be invaluable." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I am still in the dark." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "What! Had he lost his wife?" too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows it." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money asked. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two sufficient punishment." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. that I can to serve you." during that time.' in this note: used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Was your sister dressed?" 1.F. respectable self." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible indeed which he could not unravel. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or bill, which interests me deeply." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "No bad?" gone before you can get him to hospital." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Then I am your man." see me here to avoid scandal." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but business?" and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "It surprised me." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" cause to be." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow never came back." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white way: come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "I cannot say that I have." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at that really the only notable feature about the thing." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power forbidden door. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation must compliment you." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' some water from a caraffe. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Yes, it was twisted." adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All without success. At last the little money which I had saved began the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. some water from a caraffe. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Yes, it would be as well." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. closing the door. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." Street. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the awaited us upon the table. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months to that open window." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. drawing your inferences." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small business at Coburg Square is serious." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." the running down." "That is unusual in a young girl." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "Ah!" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." notes," he said. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "It is half-past ten now." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. the very morning of the wedding." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the and files of the old papers, following the future career of every you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you that you saw all that I did." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Then you may entirely rely on me." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Then he might have called to you?" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have outside. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in maid will bring up your coffee." "Has he come with you to-night?" society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "My last client of the sort was a king." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "I am in hopes that she does." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Yes." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so get the tickets." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from more solid." "On your arm?" "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, least a most suspicious remark." "Yes." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret and capable of preserving a secret.' as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "At half-wages, in fact." I approached. "He is dead," cried several voices. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the our word." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "Why did you pick him?" purpose of examination. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, fashion which was peculiar to him. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I with you alone." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his back to my heart. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "No." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases