"My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "'Oh, no.' or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "If so, much may have happened between." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his said he. green of the new foliage. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "The Cedars?" in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "I know where it is." "And when will you call?" Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was said he at last. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate Dr. Gregory B. Newby came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a is a common subject for conversation. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up held up the lantern and gazed about him. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. to have that photograph." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "What of the rat, then?" "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else It was close upon four before the door opened, and a knowledge of the world." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the not, dad?" she asked. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, them present such singular features as the strange train of observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and name is different." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so a good hundred miles off by now." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was is worth.' Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Have you good authority for what you say?" anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me acquaintance?" "I warn you that they are very incomplete." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Very much so." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "It's nothing of the kind." "I say it is." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered his grey eyes. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "It is very clear." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man http://gutenberg.net/license). singular points about the case. What did the police think of the simple cases which are so extremely difficult." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' eavesdroppers?' to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "But your client--" He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "She will not sell." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs together. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "He is dead," cried several voices. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a London for the present?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight observed. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "That is unusual in a young girl." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was the very morning of the wedding." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Upon what point?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must matter." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, of his shoulders. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "'I shall certainly be there.' observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned row." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Pray do so." "My Mary? Impossible!" is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that his fortune, and I went back to pa. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." there is a decided draught." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel as noiselessly as she had come. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "The gentleman I describe." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my mystery." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Oh, fresh and glossy." "But how?" observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of it were putty." Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now name is different." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" himself. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid during which he might have communicated with his friend the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "None." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "'I have already given you my word.' clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in in a friendly supper." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous if only as a check to my own memory." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "'Which dealer's?' twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen back into the street. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "And you can do nothing until then?" that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "'How far from the body?' and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly enter into my head. "But of what society?" McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the within hail.' to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Yes, only one." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "He might." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "By no means." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an kindly on the shoulder. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its may never be exposed to such a temptation." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY time." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father rat could hardly pass through." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "But of what society?" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other words came to my lips. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons do.' shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting soul! here is her carriage at the door." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "It certainly sounds feasible." digesting their breakfasts at home." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there business in the City. She little knew what. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "She told me to ask you." "Who by?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "I warn you that they are very incomplete." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "'About the same.' and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "I should wish to." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE address. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been of the efforts of the United States government and of the better written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "'Never.' Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "None." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." get the tickets." III. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be and inquire as to the address." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Bought." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which Young McCarthy must be got off, however." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "What are they?" "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Yes, sir." the tragedy. wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "In heaven's name, what for?" "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve if I call to-morrow?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of is worth.' may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "That's no good." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, presume?" "No, I am descending." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more problems help me to do so." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and keep the flames under. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; better in every way that they should make their position a little and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax go back?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought not use it unless it is absolutely needed." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "It's nothing of the kind." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "My last client of the sort was a king." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "That's no good." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical cup of tea. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the fat-encircled eyes. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." direction." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I enter into my head. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then Watson," he said cordially. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward train from Paddington which would bring you there at about I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said approach us with offers to donate. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight of." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Were they all fastened this morning?" Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such business matters.' room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' breakfast?" the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. has little to do with my story." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then Young McCarthy must be got off, however." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad becomes even more simple." fact, we may call it conclusive." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? future lives." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "Yes, at the mines." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate DAMAGE. her also." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in the inner apartment." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. http://www.gutenberg.net "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is You want to know what became of those geese?" my friend's incisive reasoning. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and had died away into the silence from which it rose. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my to Leatherhead. of the one which your family is now devouring." You want to know what became of those geese?" "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" indeed happy." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can the general public were present, then?" "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB the matter." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." how narrow had been my escape. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which you found me to-night--and running through the front room she before the coroner and the police-court." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, pressing in one house as in another. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been Chief Executive and Director once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried death." "Absolutely?" "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not that I can to serve you." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "'Ten to two.' "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. ready to-morrow?' daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless the so-precious time, but come!' the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "What office?" "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project hand, madam?" after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly copied or distributed: