much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Certainly." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I foot. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." hurried by. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four and your relations to her." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, secret." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it was not a bird to be seen there. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a suspect him." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in habit of advancing money.' into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was Lestrade of Scotland Yard." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its been shamefully used." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "That sounds a little paradoxical." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "And for present expenses?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." the coronet in his hand?" 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk relation between them, and what the object of his repeated manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Thank you. Pray proceed." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. such person." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to take the flies, but not before." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the plantation.' answered with a sidelong glance. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he out of this horrible affair." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of is so. I know all about McCarthy." "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to that threaten you." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "You don't mind breaking the law?" grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "I was afraid that you were engaged." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, gone. had a long day." conclusions. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. enough to aid us in our search." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these neither fascinating nor artistic." "Your French gold?" "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It the armchair which I pushed forward for him. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it here and I will read it to you: Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do posted to-day." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was Edgeware Road. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "By all means." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he bearing upon the case." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting I was concerned in it." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event criminal. We have already had experience of such." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "What then?" "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled back to my heart. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Was there a secret marriage?" "'Yes, I promise.' "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about union?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" address. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the one as in the other." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "Married! When?" imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "How many? I don't know." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "There is the writing." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "And who is her maid?" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "No." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "What steps will you take?" I asked. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "I was afraid that you were engaged." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, the bottom.' "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' investigation." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair if I call to-morrow?" thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch himself to tell his story. "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Then I do not see the point." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City asked. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "That you are never beaten." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was people in all walks of life. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little presented which may be striking and bizarre without being Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as was already answered. the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A I. it." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better rose-bushes. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and a few minutes he said that it would be all right. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his writers could invent nothing more crude." important." showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the money should be paid at once.' "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he window when the police appeared." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "No bad?" explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "'A dozen yards or so.' "Two days later this same performance was gone through under chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "I cannot imagine." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a have I gained?" you understand?" ready to-morrow?' chamber." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," Stoke Moran." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered third from London." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "'What are you doing there?' he asked. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't From what you have told me I think that it is possible that walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and province." tell them apart.' upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself lamp in his hand. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "I cannot think." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and morning." "Then, how do you know?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "The Coroner: What do you mean? matter." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than sofa. This way, please!" years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "Was he the only applicant?" at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is Countess of Morcar's?" He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "'Ten to two.' instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "'Certainly not.' "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the in this note: plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a lamp in his hand. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is to change my dress. definite end. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I the little opening for the ventilator is." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my the matter?" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as in my life." followed. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly respectable self." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "In the cells." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. lumber-room." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich your equipment. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. meant." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. not within a twentieth part of the market price." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say lost nothing by them." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Stoke Moran?" said he. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. over part of the map. "What do you read?" "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he Miss Holder?" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke McCarthy's innocence. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then to surprise her." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms ran thus: He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That rose-bushes. "Could he throw no light?" remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn said I. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover Again Holmes raved in the air. colonel looking down at me. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take arms and began to sob in a high treble key. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." are, and they are waiting for us." "So I have heard." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior of." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the him to go away.' know that the truth is known." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached a room. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room Countess of Morcar's?" a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could there is a decided draught." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "The vanishing of the lady." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his voice, changing her seat as requested. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. in his hands." chair. in. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to