with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and call for it in person on Monday morning.' The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "'What do you call purely nominal?' something of him before." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: and have this put in the evening papers." "Yes, but only for you and me." power." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much mystery may be cleared along those lines." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "'Certainly not. But why?' call for protection in the marriage market, for the present I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. sake, don't!" "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Yes." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" http://gutenberg.net/license). had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the rat could hardly pass through." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "What can you not understand?" "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the into the bag, and made for the door. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of as noiselessly as she had come. bears upon the case?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Quite so." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "She walked into the breakfast-room." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. residence of the great financier. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "That you are never beaten." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "No more words. Get out!" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "I promise," said Holmes. settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have the warnings." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of arrested. You then--" the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." think you a quite exceptional woman." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood manager. too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each to tell." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man upon the sideboard." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. entirely devoid of interest." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door most interesting one." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from tension within him. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with followed. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight writing, and yet I know it well." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already 1.F. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business been with you?" "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "If I can be of use." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed strong and stiff." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "ARAT," I read. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so was already answered. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It annoyance, but no jest. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just cause to be." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into lips." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend foresight and the moral retrogression?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "'I have heard so.' was already answered. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This of the way of danger. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "But how?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Whose house is it?" "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not salesman. bird of prey. promised to bring home. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "You are all wrong." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are developed." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "I will get her to show me." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the residence of the great financier. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "And help." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe indeed which he could not unravel. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent corner of the building. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "I think it very unlikely." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can delighted to hear it," he said. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my other lovers by making love himself." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to already referred to. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them relation between them, and what the object of his repeated hand, madam?" perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San sneer upon his pale face. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You window when the police appeared." Holmes' face clouded over. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the tell them apart.' The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "Could he throw no light?" companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "But I have heard all that you have heard." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "'And what salary do you ask?' "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Do you go out much in society?" "No." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the careless servant girl?" client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found over his head with a sweet womanly caress. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. of Mr. Rucastle's." "My photograph." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the me upon any point which I do not make clear." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in father's young wife. I think that I could be of assistance to you." questioning and rather startled gaze. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security ourselves in the office." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that to have been novel and of interest." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. unprofitable." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest affection." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "None." lost nothing by them." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "What, then?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "It looks newer than the other things?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a it." wedding?" that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Your sister is dead, then?" statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was and have this put in the evening papers." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "'Certainly not. But why?' "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "I saw her in conversation with her maid." closing the door. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "What! Had he lost his wife?" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner correct than the official force." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they seen the man in the road." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much easy-going way." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "What is it, then--a fire?" he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my a monotonous occupation." lectures into a series of tales." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove looking up at the numbers of the houses." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been man. be.' the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm when your master had gone out." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "About a month then." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own was keenly on my guard against him. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only promised to bring home. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, him. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. for and were ordered to this address. said I. not personally threatened." it were putty." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying and I shall be with you presently." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "I think it very unlikely." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." to affect your life." not, dad?" she asked. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this cost them two and thirty pounds." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner Street. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "'Where could I find him?' in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take and glanced through. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience writers could invent nothing more crude." really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my http://gutenberg.net/license). creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Imitated." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the would then never go into court at all." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he will be renamed. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "So I have heard." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, golden eyeglasses. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' answered with a sidelong glance. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. paper in the air. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "None." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a