you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was questioning and rather startled gaze. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Never." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and read it out to me." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "And you can do nothing until then?" "Well?" chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There disappearance of these gems?" to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "Perfectly so." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "Oh, yes, easily." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was think, you have already met." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in means taking possession of that which another person has a prior have I gained?" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, the address that was given us in the advertisement. that there was nothing in it, after all." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "'What then?' I asked. returned to France?" at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at to miss it." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to closely." introspective fashion. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just But Holmes shook his head gravely. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin him nearly every evening." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought easy-going way." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of foot. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "And leave your case unfinished?" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble children over to America with him, so that I found myself without my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Just look it up, then." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "One?" "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist death." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "And I to find an enemy." before the coroner and the police-court." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was me, and I could not think that his explanation of the 'please.'" all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and instincts rose up against that laugh. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon detained." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out without a word or a look. "What do you make of that, Watson?" unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." that I may have something better before very many minutes are "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with for the market.' call for protection in the marriage market, for the present marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE that I am arrested." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Perfectly so." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without floor. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about dead, shall be safe with us." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap will he say when he returns?" see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some showing my impatience. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." the one as in the other." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in I shall continue with my miserable story. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "Then what has happened to him?" "Nothing." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Married! When?" we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might public press." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your had picked up in the wood. "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." second window is the one that I jumped from." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "How did he come?" "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her characteristics, but those are the more obvious." as he remarks, very much against the son." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Perfectly so." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less bed dies. Does not that strike you?" of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the have established a very serious case against the son of the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw that little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had at a side door. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Yes, at the mines." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel dramatic, in fact." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "In which, sir?" ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "I cannot tell." "But of what society?" is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his noble correspondent could be. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be in. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. bearing upon the case." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours less than 26s. 4d. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide morning." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the bell. Holmes whistled. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the October 9, 1890. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of than was visible to me." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "I have a cab outside." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in really the only notable feature about the thing." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new will he say when he returns?" than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just the night.' believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." on re-entering her father's house?" "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been that he has suffered." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then that I am arrested." approach us with offers to donate. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been congenial hunt. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were with you?" "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of good-night and bustled off upon her way. Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I at home. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly locked. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is so far?" compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "One?" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Where did he live, then?" data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now coroner's jury." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. to-night's adventure." provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away McCarthy's innocence. everything which you would wish to know." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, residence of the great financier. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the miles off. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do clang of the bell. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most IS seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his important." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second conduct the inquiry." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Then I shall certainly come." "Yes." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while you do it in twenty minutes!' IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to have I gained?" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "'And what salary do you ask?' showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." conduct the inquiry." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to in a very precise fashion." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some shadow pass over his face as I spoke. coat-tails." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took shoulder. "Perhaps we may make them less so." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I cannot imagine." that, and I came down." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "'I have heard so.' Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my it right.' third from London." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." always that they were such commands as a lady might with "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the the inner apartment." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, Sutherland. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had said Mr. Holder. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we your troubles." entirely lost his self-respect." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time go from here to the Strand." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a the south-west, I see." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Certainly." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "Quite so." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards which I could not give. He asked for Alice. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "That is unusual in a young girl." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on prepare for the new role I have to play." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. flock.' police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching considering the formidable letters which were received by himself usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long south, for the country is more deserted there." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even other, as fresh and trim as possible. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, depend upon your compliance." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. hands. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, the little opening for the ventilator is." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Murdered?" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "And now?" I asked. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "My opinion is in no way altered." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock