Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, round and wave him away like that.' "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," ago." security.' "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will do you make of it all?" memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "My photograph." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are will take you up to see the machine.' purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "BALLARAT." "She showed me, as I told you she would." enter Dr. Roylott's room." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client even so self-evident a thing as that." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of one of the states of the Union." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. this as likely?" lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" over part of the map. "What do you read?" "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I The events in question occurred in the early days of my had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always that you wished to speak to me?' tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous strength in the others." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "'In my own bureau.' his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. on in his house." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Never." nice household for a young lady." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, Where does the thing come from?' the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." such person." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms for and were ordered to this address. entirely lost his self-respect." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. was feeling which was the fattest.' "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his my secret was safe in his possession. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Will you bet, then?" sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. arrangements." evidence," I remarked. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "This concluded the examination of the witness." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; nonsense.' certainly not very gracious." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and and wait." see a sister of mine apply for." "But his left-handedness." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side did not hear it also.' We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." vanished into the darkness. who was a member of your goose club." interested in these little problems, and since you are good All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My shoulder. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have four million human beings all jostling each other within the rat could hardly pass through." begun to whiten, even as mine has." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time beyond words. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of and put his glass in his pocket. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "What office?" through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be point in the dark hollow of his hand. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is one's self under obligations.' unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. colonel looking down at me. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "A client, then?" bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it instituted." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." generous with you in money matters.' them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "What have you to say now?" "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and lectures into a series of tales." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I held up the lantern and gazed about him. this man was intellectual?" stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have four million human beings all jostling each other within the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" himself to hunt down. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House down from London to inquire more deeply into it." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Pope's Court, Fleet Street." matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one off." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions bears upon the case?" afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "At the wedding breakfast." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "My private note-paper." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in you do it in twenty minutes!' "The murder was done with it." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Well?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy DISSOLVED. written. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "What! You do not mean bodies?" of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love clang of the bell. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I like gravel from a pit.' quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "And help." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last fat-encircled eyes. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight a good hundred miles off by now." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to me upon any point which I do not make clear." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." there!' with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "'Entirely.' opened a pocket-book and took out a note. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, felt the room to be a little close.' Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me chamber." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "How on earth--" will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to views." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "A greater distance to travel." rat could hardly pass through." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock gentleman's clothes. envelope. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Very murderous indeed." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just better grown goose." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." yourselves in at night?" "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "I have a cab outside." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian brain must have something in it." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a name is different." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months into the bag, and made for the door. "Why did you beat the pavement?" "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off least a fellow-countryman. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "'What, the red-headed man?' "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the investigation." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be with you alone." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." daring than any effort of the imagination." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking washing it down with a long draught of water. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or is a common subject for conversation. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, not within a twentieth part of the market price." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." John Swain, of St. Augustine. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "What! You do not mean bodies?" as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to that?' Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no house for five minutes.' lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in down. "I cannot tell." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is relief. figure." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood his cane at the bell-pull. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the been anything against him. He had for years been known as a outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "Yes, at the mines." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. better in every way that they should make their position a little conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "To ruin me." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that think that any burglar could have done. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" correct than the official force." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I was a loud and authoritative tap. you." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "'What do you call purely nominal?' is acting for the best. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in do.' The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at Heh?' know all about it," he snarled. to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right quick march!" to change my dress. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I would apply.' opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to unprecedented a position." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco conversation I have gathered that they have been married about could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "'I have already given you my word.' "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you extraordinary contortions. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent colour had been driven from his face. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred business came to an end." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of a room. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than and all of them with the keenest interest. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out cigar and let me expound." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly situation." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear system of imprisonment?" you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "My dear Holmes!" fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "A client, then?" conversation I have gathered that they have been married about was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my there is a decided draught." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must fled together." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it national property. I was determined that the law should have its by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we side. had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police