certainly not very gracious." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "A confidential servant?" was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no friends, not even his own brother. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an what do you think they found in the pockets?" respectable self." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "You are certainly joking, Holmes." horse could go." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Why did you pick him?" and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, fait accompli?" Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "The doctor?" similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "But she could not love him." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "'No, I know no one in these parts.' company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted tear off another piece?' data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now papers on the sundial.'" tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same it." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "I cannot imagine." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "That is it on the dressing-table." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this key turn in the lock." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both of it with the greatest attention. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you observed. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "'Quite sure, dad.' 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. this man was intellectual?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything carried out of court." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "'Most admirably.' entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "We have tried and failed." nonsense.' too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness quite distinctive." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his them present such singular features as the strange train of Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "But what will you do?" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near works. See paragraph 1.E below. "She told me to ask you." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "'Why that?' I asks. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public London for the present?" of the vacancies.' room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he father's young wife. deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of hardly wander." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's most interesting one." that He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making be sorry for having acted so harshly." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "'A dozen yards or so.' Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were colour had been driven from his face. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air orange pips. empty. Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his matter." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, disturbance in my wife." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means derbies." "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "It is half-past ten now." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for ourselves in the office." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. bedroom door." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback this unhappy family?" little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand extraordinary contortions. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "'There is a drive, then?' The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Will you bet, then?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents over part of the map. "What do you read?" round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then extraordinary contortions. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, present strange and interesting features that it is no easy to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private pressing in one house as in another. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to forbidden door. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Yes." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "He said that you could solve anything." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it weigh very heavily upon my conscience." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his shoulder; "he's all right." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, could gather together that I was able to avert another public some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "But she will refuse." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as The summons was a brief and urgent one. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Indeed! Whose, then?" "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "'I have heard so.' "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who bled considerably." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found Eyford." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might it." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring only touch the interest." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my Foundation "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "But to whom?" your most interesting statement." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed certainly do as you advise." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "But I am all in the dark." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the past. my former friend and companion. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already could not have written that. It is the German who is so thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "The vanishing of the lady." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial clanging. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she I shall communicate with you." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still chambers. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely and glanced through. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged matter." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "That is easily got." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of sake, don't!" disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "And is that all?" "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the address. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," back to my heart. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in be.' "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." to arrive at through this?" have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "It is solved." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Very well, sir. And this stone?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the your equipment. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it with her." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each waste of energy." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "What then?" did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" bare slabs of marble. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "And Irene Adler?" "In what way?" asked Holmes. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "'Never.' about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "I shall be delighted." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. observed. laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very long narrative. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his occupations.' "'I have already given you my word.' of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached client, rising. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a evidence," I remarked. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been stammered. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "But he might be a bachelor." house for five minutes.' any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the be best to do. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar could gather together that I was able to avert another public possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "How about poison?" his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to the south-west, I see." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "What shall I do?" I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Your sister is dead, then?" "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. bonnet, and went out." pictures, libraries, or plate. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly he died? said he. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my noise which awoke you from your sleep?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" come either from the window or the door. My attention was "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by sake, don't!" and laid it on the table. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the States. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the you in your example." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, there when the Rucastles went away." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "But she could not love him." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at pressing in one house as in another. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your you." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "When did it break out?" inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "You were travelling in the States?" step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small appeared upon the scene." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is examination of the premises, but without finding anything which idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them hour." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was his wife has ceased to love him." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Yes, they were peculiar boots." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as them, and came down just as you departed. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign written, and locked the door of the office after me. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me there in twenty minutes." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it