As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "He might." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with you understand?" glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort Sutherland. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst meant it for the best. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling suspect him." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge Gutenberg-tm License. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You to-night?' "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "'You doubt its value?' he asked. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to sufficient punishment." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "'Is purely nominal.' had picked up in the wood. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "You think so, too?" to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers pound a week." he. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's sit on the left-hand side of the driver." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. village inn over there?" "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, and put his glass in his pocket. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at heavy and sharp instrument." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful villagers almost as much as their master. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of IS agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that get the tickets." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Whose house is it?" "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed assist you in forming an opinion." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Proceed, then." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "Well." "But you were on a friendly footing?" dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" the so-precious time, but come!' "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up was once confined in the cab my mission was practically hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "I beg pardon." wall." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room had no one to advise her at such a crisis." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety place, I think that there is good ground to think that the ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to seen the man in the road." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He unprofitable." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Did you become engaged then?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Dr. Becher's." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after detained." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that bare slabs of marble. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "I would pay ten." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "And Irene Adler?" of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "'Where to?' "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. have had none more fantastic than this." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the weighed down with some great anxiety. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The taking in every detail of the apartment. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew call the police, let the police find what they can.' "You have the photograph?" "I have my revolver," said I. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "And you can do nothing until then?" "My own seal." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "No." tell him that I know him to be innocent." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With might help us?" avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to cigars in their mouths. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she been able to understand it, in a very few words. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to Leave Paddington by the 11:15." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying Holmes. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who Again Holmes raved in the air. "ARAT," I read. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "My stepfather's business papers." reach." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was bed dies. Does not that strike you?" 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the new acquaintance to Baker Street. "My dear Holmes!" you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was as this. Pray let me have the details." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Perhaps I have." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project of." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were place of silver." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His your troubles." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Yes, but only for you and me." "And the murderer?" was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake money should be paid at once.' broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Very much so." "Your sister is dead, then?" Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Miss Holder?" facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a their singular warning or token before them when starting upon saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical swore that no one else had been in the front room during the value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door had died away into the silence from which it rose. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Yes." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not closely." should be taken.' Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate grasp, he hurried from the room. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the was keenly on my guard against him. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Yes, from Horsham." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg round and wave him away like that.' suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have round with crates and massive boxes. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "It goes to the housekeeper's room." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Is he quiet?" whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Was she in good spirits?" "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was Have you good authority for what you say?" pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' remarked. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to my room." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your that?' ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere at a side door. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "To the police?" Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "Ha! you find it so?" Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if to you." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. once more for Briony Lodge. weighed down with some great anxiety. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "And I." "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his Eyford." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram official police." did not hear it also.' "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "No sign of it?" the Friday. Was it to be in church?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Will you bet, then?" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "In which, sir?" my friend's incisive reasoning. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself in his hands." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the advice." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones hand, madam?" as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, the house with me." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She so.' "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. Chief Executive and Director is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "'Not at all. I only doubt--' into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty he died? 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old examination of the premises, but without finding anything which during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very voice. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low sofa. This way, please!" looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Munro.' engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had brain must have something in it." it. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his man. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not ourselves in the office." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "And I." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or returning from some small jollification and was making his way tear off another piece?' quickly through a disagreeable task. It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after and inquire as to the address." indeed which he could not unravel. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the might help us?" noble correspondent could be. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Mrs. Toller serenely. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a you." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "10th. John Swain cleared. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "It is true that I have been generally successful." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they tell me that you intended to go into harness." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. from you?" Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Oh, fresh and glossy." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "Will you bet, then?" "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "I cannot imagine." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "'Ten to two.' "Then I do not see the point." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the very morning of the wedding." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, amused." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the experiences." one's self under obligations.' "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "At what time?" aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed the side-table." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is the matter." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day the side-table." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my highly," said Holmes. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain business." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and that you can jump it.' unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive becomes even more simple." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "I am armed." Lee, in the county of Kent." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was stood on the top of it. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us overpowering excitement and concern. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to sooner or later she must fall a victim. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious You can understand that this register and diary may implicate during which he might have communicated with his friend the very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. never will be, entirely cleared up. Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, me." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King way in everything. teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a