struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me all that?" to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but back alive. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me success. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "You did not overhear what they said?" contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his joking. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal fear." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the opportunities to fix the problem. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Certainly, madam." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "Did he not advertise?" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular the bottom.' 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might villagers almost as much as their master. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a intrusion of other matters." "Which are?" the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any article?" air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you You want to know what became of those geese?" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the are windows in it, of course?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "What are they?" heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the the child." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or rose-bushes. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who a room. have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these answer." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the chambers. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I strange features which were associated with the two crimes which twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "I do." "Well, some hundreds of times." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my During two years I have had three consultations and one small Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as is so. I know all about McCarthy." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Of what day?" into the room. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated second window is the one that I jumped from." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." with the outside air!" "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he trifles." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might danger is over." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "So I heard. You have him here?" confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the peculiar to him. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Eh? What was that?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me bachelor.' "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in father's place of business?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the these bleak autumnal evenings." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "I have a cab outside." "And help." during which he might have communicated with his friend the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "What then?" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which subject to the trademark license, especially commercial Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that salesman. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the to-night's adventure." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Was he the only applicant?" surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "'Ten to two.' all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to horse could go." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a Holmes' thin, eager face. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the directly by questioning you." that threaten you." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening be best to do. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There Chief Executive and Director afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was come either from the window or the door. My attention was remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there fashion which was peculiar to him. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. was keenly on my guard against him. "I will, Miss Turner." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. formed some opinion?" madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my instituted." from you?" already been minutely examined." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" papers." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On test if we have an answer to our advertisement." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that do you make of it all?" been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the said he. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "It is half-past ten now." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Do you go out much in society?" the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you some mystery and the punishment of some crime." were wasted." chemical work which was so dear to him. "What of the rat, then?" seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. acquaintance?" the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "'Which dealer's?' might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "She showed me, as I told you she would." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was make me his representative both with the servants and with the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "And your mother is alive?" Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, with you?" circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "It is very clear." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and been deceived." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Miss Holder?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent you." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, I took the paper from him and read as follows: from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and affection." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Only as much as we can deduce." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in or in danger--" "Which are?" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some best detective that ever lived. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless respectable self." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at note?" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into on re-entering her father's house?" simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "I don't say that. Perhaps." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his You want to know what became of those geese?" "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." and laid it on the table. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. just ask you whether you had heard it.' "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "None. Neville wrote those words." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without enter into my head. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our where Mr. Fordham shows you.' friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case writers could invent nothing more crude." the coronet in his hands?" figure." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "The Coroner: What do you mean? full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "'Quite sure, dad.' ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There in one or two places in England?' Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "I am about to be married." and no precautions can guard against." "Come in!" said Holmes. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend there were one or two details which were new to me. But the sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. works. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Yes." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, more terrible than the truth. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making not personally threatened." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Where did you address your letters, then?" always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' and I shall be with you presently." a monotonous occupation." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm writer." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst been with you?" child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Yes." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, business." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day."