things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "Do you go out much in society?" Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united not interfere, come what may. You understand?" human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must know all about it," he snarled. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." knowledge of the world." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Who was the criminal, then?" how narrow had been my escape. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am a suggestive one." "Not yet." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "'I shall certainly be there.' A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still only touch the interest." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a instituted." matter over." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, window when the police appeared." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Holmes." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "Has he come with you to-night?" time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "And it is--" wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his beg that you will break it off." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "'Oh, no.' He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he remarked. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "No, my brougham is waiting." chill to my heart. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which is a common subject for conversation. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had it." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in my friend's incisive reasoning. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Yes." never to learn it at all." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." lips." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "She will not sell." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "Oh, fresh and glossy." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Tired-looking or fresh?" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "To an end?" "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second salesman. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The which should have the effect of calling the attention of the fishes. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and your sleep?' is worth.' unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, examination of the premises, but without finding anything which Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" be. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return towards the blaze. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Have you it here?" down. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning that there was nothing in it, after all." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case fish-monger and a tide-waiter." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been to change my dress. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Then you may entirely rely on me." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Ten will be early enough." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the unprofitable." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "That also I could fathom." "Was the window open?" "Yes, at the mines." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Yes, they were peculiar boots." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "And did you observe any change in her then?" client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." carpenter." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to other lovers by making love himself." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "She will not sell." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such a room. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "I fear not." Count Von Kramm." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "I do." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them not come at once?" a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "And is that all?" slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Yes, sir." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I voice, changing her seat as requested. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which The police have openly confessed that they can at present make but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the to change my dress. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Why did you beat the pavement?" squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." you?" "Whose house is it?" looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a hurried away. "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the From what you have told me I think that it is possible that he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "And that is--" where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety returned to France?" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter that I may have something better before very many minutes are did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting you do it in twenty minutes!' I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which stood on the top of it. exactly what you advise." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for dear old homesteads?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "And the cigar-holder?" Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they society." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This and shall probably return to London by the evening train." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after yourselves in at night?" could gather together that I was able to avert another public interested in these little problems, and since you are good it right.' "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, never will be, entirely cleared up. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently foresight and the moral retrogression?" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had British peeress.'" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "'Very good.' their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his or other trace. But how on earth--" prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "We have tried and failed." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "No more words. Get out!" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "No, but the enclosure is." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, Lestrade of Scotland Yard." License. You must require such a user to return or companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, three of the beryls in it, was missing. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. front of me. "No." "Precisely so. But how--" the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "How about poison?" perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "And I." "How about poison?" depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "'And the work?' January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "Certainly." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Precisely so. But how--" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have exactly what you advise." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB signal between you and your father? dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the himself to tell his story. appointment with me for six o'clock?" "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Nothing?" on in his house." jewels which you have stolen?' and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing girl said." have established a very serious case against the son of the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "That you are never beaten." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "But not more so than I to find you." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put will be renamed. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in even so self-evident a thing as that." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for little trying to do so much typewriting?" "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are your Highness to the police-station?" formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were suggested at once that there must be a communication between the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but in the dead of the night?' either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend my special province." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "'Where could I find him?' of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "What then?" We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "I have a cab outside." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Then you may entirely rely on me." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional had formerly been in part my own. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Perfectly so." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the weighed down with some great anxiety. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project the room while you explain this matter?" "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than in him." "By no means." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. electronic works servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real to his chemical studies. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different lost nothing by them." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's placed his cuttings. details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "And you can do nothing until then?" "Yes, I have one waiting." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. tell him that I know him to be innocent." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," remarked. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening