the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, tension within him. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond both be extremely obliged.' voice. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "What can it mean?" I gasped. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "'Very good.' "Very much so." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence was it brought him the coronet? anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every voice, changing her seat as requested. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should papers on the sundial.'" the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his obstinate." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and his face. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my awkward doing business with an alias." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there Lestrade of Scotland Yard." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he points to suicide?" could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "In the cells." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "This concluded the examination of the witness." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted success. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." showing my impatience. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then were unconscious?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and speckled band?" who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "I will try. What is it?" tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it of note-paper. It read in this fashion: against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his stood on the top of it. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his front of me. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" have not had my rubber." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "Yes." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom them?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy these bleak autumnal evenings." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the vanished into the darkness. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Of what day?" "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to child?' astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. carried out of court." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot bird I ate is country bred." examine." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "What I expected to see." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon believe that I should never have any practice at all. legal crime." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the bird I ate is country bred." homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager girl said." "Then I shall certainly come." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "'How far from the body?' takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the case before our client came into the room." keep the flames under. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange been shamefully used." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were excitement. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." promised to bring home. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in three of the beryls in it, was missing. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "'Is 4 pounds a week.' the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom forbidden door. second." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of have not had my rubber." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." o'clock is it?" and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "But we can't all be." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes business came to an end." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, the Friday. Was it to be in church?" astonishment. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon late!' Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "No." For additional contact information: my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not is entirely a question of barometric pressure." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "The knees of his trousers." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely is four-and-twenty." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "'Certainly not. But why?' "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of bird of prey. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his said he. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "And how in the world did you find them?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has locked." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" Holmes. "I was sure that I might rely on you." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. there!' he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it that you saw all that I did." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, tension within him. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There criminal. We have already had experience of such." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant business in the City. She little knew what. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon strode off upon his way. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "No, my brougham is waiting." "How can you tell that?" "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a father's place of business?" thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "By no means." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "Pray continue your narrative." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." served to weaken the effect. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. him to go away.' world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "Why serious?" many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" and I shall be with you presently." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "It is possible." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never of his shoulders. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "I have solved it." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in imbecility!" he cried. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a highroad, where all traces were lost. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I foresight and the moral retrogression?" suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "At the wedding breakfast." "'I have already given you my word.' PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE with frightened eyes at his accuser. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one correct than the official force." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and morning." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent infinite languor in his face. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, recover the gem." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The developed." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "At what time?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the someone who had been in Australia." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss least a fellow-countryman. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "Of what?" cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. this man was intellectual?" "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Won't it ring?" beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious asked. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "'I have heard so.' grasp, he hurried from the room. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "He might." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so you for a few hours?" with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have window when the police appeared." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his golden eyeglasses. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Why did you beat the pavement?" constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, least a fellow-countryman. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a singular points about the case. What did the police think of the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope page at http://pglaf.org London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at you understand?" present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us foot. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "To the police?" what these perils are?" to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As have got?" returning from some small jollification and was making his way confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "It is half-past ten now." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in better in every way that they should make their position a little you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less towards the blaze. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the electronic works Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Certainly." never came back." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "And how did you find out?" girl said." "Did you observe the colour?" his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which mysterious end." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small all-comprehensive glances. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his compunction about shooting them down." of his shoulders. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." Holmes rather sternly. where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "How many? I don't know." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about prisoner's face. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of several quiet little villages up there." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "One?" A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six been." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "I will get her to show me." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I