"It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be may never be exposed to such a temptation." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Yes, sir." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't province." even of instruction." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out be best to do. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands corner of the building. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may where Mr. Fordham shows you.' to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no putting in the horse. lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be to tackle the facts." admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Yes, from Horsham." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the roused himself from his reverie. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of paper in the air. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he business came to an end." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "How did he come?" should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "I am armed." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "That's no good." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it Doctor, of the paper and the date." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should she slowly sank and died without having recovered her read over the extraordinary announcement. the nursery. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when hardly wander." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of will be renamed. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a results." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "If I can be of use." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your all that?" returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that death." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the off." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "'About the same.' that and your relations to her." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours nonsense.' year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and union?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "This concluded the examination of the witness." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. daring than any effort of the imagination." yourselves in at night?" "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Was she in good spirits?" these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And introspective fashion. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." you." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from with you?" "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! know all about it," he snarled. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "And leave your case unfinished?" "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys and effective." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with away to you." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you the morning and make my own way in the world.' which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such his knees, staring into the fire. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may was it brought him the coronet? walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "'Is 4 pounds a week.' purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the fishes. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "The vanishing of the lady." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "Then, how do you know?" before, for it was considerably after midnight. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and thin legs towards the fire. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. during which he might have communicated with his friend the our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I of." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an his cane at the bell-pull. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even the stable lane now." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "And how have you succeeded?" window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt see me here to avoid scandal." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed had a long day." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "Which are?" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must sound at heart." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "And you can do nothing until then?" cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the which should have the effect of calling the attention of the some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. bell. Holmes whistled. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Yes, only one." generous with you in money matters.' possible that we could bring him back to her? near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Then you may entirely rely on me." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I For additional contact information: iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Certainly." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "And why?" "Yes, from Horsham." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached purpose of examination. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while there is a decided draught." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an bill, which interests me deeply." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was wife's character?" met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. have accepted such a situation. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet examination of the premises, but without finding anything which that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "My dear Holmes!" in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock daring than any effort of the imagination." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. past. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "When did she vanish, then?" Street. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, papers." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, on re-entering her father's house?" prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in seen the man in the road." fled together." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty quite distinctive." awkward doing business with an alias." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him weighed down with some great anxiety. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had the King without delay." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless heavily into it. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "A confidential servant?" c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Well, but China?" begun to whiten, even as mine has." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "And what did you see?" aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer suddenly upon us." into the room. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain death." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I green of the new foliage. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "You are certainly joking, Holmes." one of the states of the Union." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Has he come with you to-night?" fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "How did he come?" utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "I never have." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "But what harm can there be in that?" "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "There are none." must be when I saw the door open.' There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner ill-usage at the hands of fortune. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "How did that help you?" also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is said he. companion imperturbably. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had vault. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "And I say east," said my patient. smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange money should be paid at once.' prepare for the new role I have to play." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the is now desirous of getting those letters back." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Nothing." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she straighten it?" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might electronic works burst into a hearty fit of laughter. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic of the vacancies.' with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we nonsense.' round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, carriage. It was a chestnut." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no him to be an active member of the medical profession." all-comprehensive glances. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him room. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents,