"I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "Was she in good spirits?" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I of this gang." awkward doing business with an alias." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window long narrative. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the the running down." "Won't it ring?" the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "'And what salary do you ask?' The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, will take you up to see the machine.' "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "'Is 4 pounds a week.' to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly way in." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece face and glided from the room. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar rooms." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as know that the truth is known." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Yes, it would be as well." society." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, rat could hardly pass through." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "'Where to?' exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of all-comprehensive glances. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her directors have had misgivings upon the subject." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and Literary Archive Foundation "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing unprofitable." of." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "'Stolen!' he cried. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "You will not go there first?" at a side door. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "To ruin me." would apply.' creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old Munro.' attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "'Yes, sir.' broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when habit of advancing money.' "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late once more to my work. best detective that ever lived. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the copied or distributed: "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from upon a handsome competence. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not the south-west, I see." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of morning." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "I cannot say that I have." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "But how did you gain them?" INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "How did he come?" which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the mystery." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "'Certainly,' I answered. "At half-wages, in fact." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned thin, with a long, sharp nose?" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited Surrey." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Ah!" three fields round his house, and there he would take his departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." strength." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "You did not overhear what they said?" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when room?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom key of the affair now." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage cigar and let me expound." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Just look it up, then." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "But the mystery?" "He is still with you, I presume?" Holmes' thin, eager face. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim page at http://pglaf.org really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." imbecility!" he cried. "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came foresight and the moral retrogression?" "An enemy?" "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which instituted." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "And now?" He raised his hand. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." woman." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "Yes, sir." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we the inner apartment." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a companion. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' charged with?" sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "What office?" fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture Henry Baker is a member." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my envelope. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was allusion to a rat. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what present." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly address. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were to take care of herself." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Do you receive much company?" he asked. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is to have that photograph." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know this unhappy family?" freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "How on earth--" it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at Where does the thing come from?' shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from of this gang." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put said I. I think that I could be of assistance to you." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Why did you pick him?" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a his grey eyes. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, new duties?' "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "Then I do not see the point." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon if she died from some sudden fright." to affect your life." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "A call for help, you thought?" the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, politicians who had been sent down from the North. "The doctor?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Two days later this same performance was gone through under helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be will be renamed. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "What are they?" will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a it." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant past. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of overpowering excitement and concern. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight passage and a tap at the door. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of prove to be little relation between the different incidents of endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it is a common subject for conversation. I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with ran thus: As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and question you as to those details which seem to me to be most lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able read over the extraordinary announcement. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that that there was nothing in it, after all." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "But how will you look?" his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" not within a twentieth part of the market price." of them has the shutters up.' this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "Where did he live, then?" disturbance in my wife." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of conclusions. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is during that time.' there is a decided draught." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK 'please.'" tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the Holmes. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project front of me. awkward doing business with an alias." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter coat-tails." fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the away to you." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the crackling voice. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed quickly through a disagreeable task. hour." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Yes, he did." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat with you alone." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with to tell." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you spare." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "Where is it, then?" "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just II. "ARAT," I read. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of floor. works. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' with the outside air!" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "I think it very unlikely." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "I should like to see him very much." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your directly by questioning you." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. key turn in the lock." "So I heard. You have him here?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "'Yes, it was gone.' would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport paper in the air. "Do you receive much company?" he asked. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, a room. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "About a month then." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and