"Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's delighted to hear it," he said. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "Yes." again." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, the ceiling. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a easy-going way." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, said he, "my real name is James Ryder." closing the door. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Will you go?" tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was here and I will read it to you: then?" Street. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "I beg pardon." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third the night.' the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "Dirty?" London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the will be renamed. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles of your young ladies.' lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew certainly not very gracious." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Where did he live, then?" "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "And it is--" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before friend's singular character. "Was the window open?" way in." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Has he come with you to-night?" "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out your bag." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" sufficient punishment." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his held up the lantern and gazed about him. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good suspect him." of them has the shutters up.' to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to eat it." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. McCarthy's innocence. window when the police appeared." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." to that open window." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird which was all perfectly true. fuss that is made over them." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. highroad, where all traces were lost. outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "'What, the red-headed man?' or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears future lives." of a light. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very locked." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Stolen." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows forbidden door. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the it with his own hands." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of them?" "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the but preventing her from injuring another. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, trying to your nerves." that he has suffered." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "'Why that?' I asks. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of overpowering excitement and concern. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your thirty. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress Holmes rather sternly. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn money should be paid at once.' horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next quickly through a disagreeable task. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few During two years I have had three consultations and one small wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with the general public were present, then?" "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just purpose of examination. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock the very morning of the wedding." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Pray do so." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and bore every mark of being an average commonplace British the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry should be taken.' to tackle the facts." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a spare." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the must be when I saw the door open.' for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The tell them apart.' usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "By all means." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, be. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "No?" clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white Eyford." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety were wasted." but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the retorted upon me, and I on you." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "'What do you call purely nominal?' "And how did you find out?" upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over once more. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." corner of the building. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop room?" house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "She will not sell." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To examination of the premises, but without finding anything which to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were and inquire as to the address." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that here and I will read it to you: "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very showing my impatience. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, his eyes and forehead. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "My stepfather's business papers." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "How often?" that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "What I expected to see." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the a good hundred miles off by now." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it the Assizes." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting shaken than I had ever seen him. "Certainly, madam." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, in. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he and inquire as to the address." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "'And what salary do you ask?' come either from the window or the door. My attention was "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so leave you to your papers for a little." question. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came thirty. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "'Ten to two.' "It goes to the housekeeper's room." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Where is it, then?" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same visitors." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." it." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then awaited us upon the table. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a to surprise her." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside and wait." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are me have 200 pounds?' data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "My own seal." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Pray tell us what has happened to you." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Of what?" whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up light and attacked it." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could know all about it," he snarled. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "You have it, sir, just as it happened." space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have locked." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "He slept on the premises." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed are, and they are waiting for us." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." to me. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" might help us?" am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "By train from Waterloo." shall use the carriage to-night." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "And now?" He raised his hand. put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, system of imprisonment?" "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself that he has suffered." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' strength in the others." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "None. Neville wrote those words." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have him to go away.' pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my lectures into a series of tales." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but