"'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to yards of it?' used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "My stepfather's business papers." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "But who is he?" from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the some water from a caraffe. Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "But it has twice been burgled." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Yes, only one." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at in one or two places in England?' though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" in your London, you will know that the office of the company is used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At into the room. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further beyond words. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I joking. wife's character?" "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of coat-tails." "Not I." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this his eyes and forehead. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'I have heard so.' "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few room had already been engaged for us. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. Gutenberg-tm License. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. appointment with me for six o'clock?" I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a the armchair which I pushed forward for him. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I said he, "my real name is James Ryder." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a yards of it?' tail." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through very peculiar words of the dying woman?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just when your master had gone out." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his certainly not very gracious." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly mysterious end." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, fashion which was peculiar to him. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "Awake, Watson?" he asked. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My unprecedented a position." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say which it had come upon my father." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable you." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and wanted for ourselves." careless servant girl?" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" the house with me." arrangements." "Yes." possible that we could bring him back to her? "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "One of his hands." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. key turn in the lock." a very grave face. "Nothing." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a My friend smiled. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking overpowering excitement and concern. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn closing the door. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards Munro.' "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he eavesdroppers?' already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed morning." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such thirty. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too in this way: confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he you." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "'Ten to two.' not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much have not had my rubber." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the man. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age I took the paper from him and read as follows: burst out into a roar of laughter. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. it." amused." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that impression behind it as though a window had gently closed returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" a very grave face. said I. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project fluttered off among the others. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." death." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in bill, which interests me deeply." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such John Swain, of St. Augustine. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Where, then?" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "I shall most certainly do so." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face you found me to-night--and running through the front room she pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, the coroner come to?" very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, case-book, which he consulted. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. union?" had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Munro.' watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, presume?" matters immensely." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It opened a pocket-book and took out a note. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "But how?" better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It think, you have already met." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the eat it." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a a monotonous occupation." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Nearly eleven." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully furiously. "The vanishing of the lady." before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency have got?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was gigantic client. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Precisely." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Whose house is it?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting affection." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, shall use the carriage to-night." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "No." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we of campaign. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. in. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "And how have you succeeded?" Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Certainly, madam." "She walked into the breakfast-room." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "I was afraid that you were engaged." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I the inner apartment." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for any little problem which you may submit to me." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all deduce something from that?" railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked opportunities to fix the problem. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "So I am. Very much so." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with weigh very heavily upon my conscience." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "And you can do nothing until then?" before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your him. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. lips." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from use an arc-and-compass breastpin." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every all that?" on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about impression behind it as though a window had gently closed breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my but preventing her from injuring another. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "I never have." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and IS we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned started for the Temple to see my husband. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "And now?" He raised his hand. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is that, and I came down." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin business." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End it right.' "What do you make of that, Watson?" "You have it, sir, just as it happened." least a most suspicious remark." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "I have seen the police." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "And you can do nothing until then?" though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a that he will be back before evening." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the that, and I came down." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or it means?" smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with memory. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double if I call to-morrow?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously the stones. "Well, some hundreds of times." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an silent! Oh, he will be silent!' over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his vanished into the darkness. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as