that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he suspect him." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Young McCarthy must be got off, however." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager other lovers by making love himself." "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, whatever might befall. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. assist you in forming an opinion." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never results." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I newspaper selections." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "Won't it ring?" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year narrative." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which is," said he presently: "Witness: I must still refuse. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "Then, as to money?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." indeed happy." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. lost his Christmas dinner." clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was direction." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." danger is over." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the later, upon the night of May 2nd." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "And how did you verify them?" Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at over with notes and figures. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "No. His orders were to stay in the house." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." nights." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "And how have you succeeded?" the very letters. But what is this written above them?' James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Quite so." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to been." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" compunction about shooting them down." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the lectures into a series of tales." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Breckinridge is his name." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, to a more successful conclusion." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Witness: I must still refuse. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and which was all perfectly true. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Yesterday." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in better in every way that they should make their position a little foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital was shining brightly. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California very morning of my second wedding." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Precisely so. But how--" "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed meanly of me." Holmes. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all in this way: "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing certainly do as you advise." his cane at the bell-pull. present." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Only as much as we can deduce." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "You don't mind breaking the law?" "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper and wait." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and behind me. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "I cannot tell." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "I was sure that I might rely on you." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "In heaven's name, what for?" obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her strength in the others." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its place, I think that there is good ground to think that the his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful the inquest, and which are worth considering." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his knowledge of the world." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I whole matter to your consideration." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he enter into my head. locked. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest the stable lane now." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis train.' correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "But she could not love him." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Miss Holder?" face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had his knees, staring into the fire. "What then?" "Eh? What was that?" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since a room. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position are, and they are waiting for us." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was been." father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might it. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at of the vacancies.' "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Will you bet, then?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become fuss that is made over them." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize chemical work which was so dear to him. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" chill to my heart. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from hopeless attempt at recovering them." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "'I am sure if I had known--' 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his have one." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "That sounds a little paradoxical." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Why, what do you mean?" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick when you have done it." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in excitement. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. about. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately very old mansion. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and and the colonel ushered me in. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "And on what day did he meet his death?" though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see you in your example." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been residence of the great financier. go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the letters?" dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem geese which you supplied to the Alpha." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out lamp in his hand. as he remarks, very much against the son." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Yes, from Horsham." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand call for protection in the marriage market, for the present made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' in the dead of the night?' the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each there!' than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. letters?" "How long did she speak to this Alice?" which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "A client, then?" with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "We have tried and failed." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down outside. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It reach." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "Certainly." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "The Coroner: What do you mean? affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called so far?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "But I have heard all that you have heard." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "'What, the red-headed man?' happened." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, there." "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has closely." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I certainly do as you advise." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the at home. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been that to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "Certainly." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to case-book, which he consulted. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the stammered. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "That is not always so easy." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Pray be precise as to details," said he. were unconscious?" robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the less than 26s. 4d. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole What do you deduce from it?" Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over upon the white wrist. bird of prey. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from ashen face. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of off." page at http://pglaf.org "Ah, but I was recommended to you." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the paper in the air. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I You want to know what became of those geese?" muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the Countess of Morcar's?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his to talk it over. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "I don't say that. Perhaps." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "Frequently." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "And you don't know his address?" To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free