would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I becomes even more simple." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were main points of my analysis." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, him!" "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name be best to do. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. himself to tell his story. outside. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet too. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. charged with?" as yours." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Witness: It was. had formerly been in part my own. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "You think that he is dead?" station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "None." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young answered with a sidelong glance. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said at once, for I have only half an hour." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Yes, from Horsham." good for you to do.' "Precisely so. But how--" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and where Mr. Fordham shows you.' I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has dear old homesteads?" provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the himself to tell his story. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "My Mary? Impossible!" eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let advice." But Holmes shook his head gravely. the morning and make my own way in the world.' hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he ways of our fellow-men." crackling voice. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal present." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "You think that he is dead?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all DISSOLVED. crime." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. do." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly wedding?" You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" Stoke Moran." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "That is possible." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "I will not look." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "His face fell immediately. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were she used." "Not him." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would delighted to hear it," he said. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "But you have hopes?" "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry But Holmes shook his head gravely. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all important." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "And is that all?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." I nodded again. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. photograph?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "That is not always so easy." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful Gutenberg-tm License. but preventing her from injuring another. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the this remarkable episode. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every but preventing her from injuring another. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us your most interesting statement." individual and becomes the badge of a society." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And are, and they are waiting for us." "What!" he roared. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the breakfast." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "'Quite sure, dad.' "I don't believe it." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever has little to do with my story." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying companion quietly. where we are going." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "But you were on a friendly footing?" animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who brandy and water within his reach. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "No?" petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. fattened it expressly for you.' which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "How do you know, then?" rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view indeed which he could not unravel. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Why did you pick him?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if the station." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out suddenly upon us." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? already referred to. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest the one as in the other." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the It may be so in this case, also." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we way in." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "How did you deduce the select?" anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and grasp, he hurried from the room. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a most interesting one." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "And now?" He raised his hand. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than father's young wife. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at know what is wrong with it.' I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "You have it, sir, just as it happened." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "'I shall certainly be there.' came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the nonsense.' another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief presented which may be striking and bizarre without being subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Was he the only applicant?" room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. guilty parties." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best the little opening for the ventilator is." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "'I have heard so.' "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "One of his hands." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the at my own good fortune. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we chance at all." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "And I." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "And your father? Did you tell him?" and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his who was a member of your goose club." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. situation." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt call for it in person on Monday morning.' "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Deserted you?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "'I have heard so.' be there in time for your coming." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the goes." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "By train from Waterloo." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself may never be exposed to such a temptation." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Doctor, of the paper and the date." "What I expected to see." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of golden eyeglasses. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I I nodded to show that I had heard. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to seem to you to be relevant or not." to take care of herself." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and eat it." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "So I am. Very much so." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a daring than any effort of the imagination." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." friends, not even his own brother. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. your Highness to the police-station?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded you understand?" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Come in!" said he. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public footfalls from the street. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair copied or distributed: "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's front of me. Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, power." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am dear old homesteads?" joking. "I will get her to show me." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing begun to whiten, even as mine has." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the where she found matters as described by the last witness. "'Very good.' in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "If so, much may have happened between." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "'Certainly,' I answered. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The any little problem which you may submit to me." lumber-room." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is that there was nothing in it, after all." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years arrested. You then--" brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to Holmes." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business of receipt of the work. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." have I gained?" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. manager. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots man. I know him from the photograph." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite