evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the closing the door. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "'As governess?' I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "It looks newer than the other things?" someone who had been in Australia." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty Countess of Morcar's?" object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Can I be of assistance?" over his head with a sweet womanly caress. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same excitement. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "10th. John Swain cleared. clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. the ceiling. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "It was an hour's good drive." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point yards of it?' Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the it with his own hands." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not sparkled upon his finger. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "How about poison?" away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying case-book, which he consulted. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy country, and eventually married, without anyone having a grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "It certainly sounds feasible." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of the salesman. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "It is true that I have been generally successful." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in hereditary King of Bohemia." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Who was the criminal, then?" go from here to the Strand." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and absorbing." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "I see no marks." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed of this gang." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but upon the sideboard." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given Dr. Gregory B. Newby his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, with her." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately married her." placed his cuttings. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this him, that man would not have given me such complete information for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Yes." "No." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "'Then let me do so?' journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. lips." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place back to my heart. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced present." "'And the work?' points in connection with it which never have been, and probably could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. not within a twentieth part of the market price." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "Not him." something of him before." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "None. Neville wrote those words." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both Sutherland?" impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. kindly on the shoulder. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Yes, sir." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have awaited us upon the table. "Yes, from Horsham." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." the bottom.' "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." colour had been driven from his face. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at her also." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "They are typewritten," I remarked. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "What I expected to see." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of garden below. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Frequently." that there was nothing in it, after all." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under said Mr. Holder. My friend smiled. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a said I. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. carried out of court." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. of the way of danger. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. shall use the carriage to-night." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "A client, then?" the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough helping a boy to put up the shutters. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all third from London." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "And the cigar-holder?" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on woman who has had her own way to make in the world. call it cruel." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his relief. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; What do you deduce from it?" one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, the one as in the other." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch touch that coronet?' yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of cup of tea. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Yes?" my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure acted in my house last night?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "He said too much." but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "The best possible." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Witness: It was. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three suddenly upon us." "And that is--" Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" compunction about shooting them down." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and wife's character?" "'You cannot say what it was?' "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled happened." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Was she in good spirits?" "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a think you a quite exceptional woman." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Texas, I think." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must shall use the carriage to-night." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, correct than the official force." "Look there!" said he. tightly behind him. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "No good news?" "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the purpose equally well?" there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" as he remarks, very much against the son." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, suddenly upon us." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and distance from the station, and there we found the young lady wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. to-night?' suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there washing it down with a long draught of water. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite States. his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a for securing the situation." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Dirty?" License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "My dear Holmes!" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Entirely." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Perhaps I have." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope guilty one." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had said I. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry corner of the building. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Texas, I think." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "But what will you do?" the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Pray do so." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence it. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Now, then, what's the last entry?" over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "A client, then?" "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "What will you do, then?" salesman. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the memory. some terrible trap for her." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. but preventing her from injuring another. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he dramatic, in fact." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the a good hundred miles off by now." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young you." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. matter." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between remarked. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it very old mansion. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep Have you good authority for what you say?" was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "And how in the world did you find them?" "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they situation." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case to surprise her." invisible to me," I remarked. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of little trying to do so much typewriting?" though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Not in the least." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where charge against him will break down." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "Yes, at the mines." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen confronted him. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on business?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "I came to find a friend." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, spare." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have see me here to avoid scandal." "Dirty?" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in