"Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging little adventures." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which my room." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "I cannot say that I have." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not himself in a perplexing position. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of had no one to advise her at such a crisis." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "How did you deduce the select?" facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "That is possible." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Why, what do you mean?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "It is true that I have been generally successful." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "'You doubt its value?' he asked. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment to have been novel and of interest." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all key of the affair now." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "What! a murderous attack?" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work absorbing." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to absolutely follow my advice in every respect." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I golden eyeglasses. "You think so, too?" spare." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "What, then?" which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Never to return." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even wanted for ourselves." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who *** START: FULL LICENSE *** minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for is entirely a question of barometric pressure." train.' including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the Mrs. Toller serenely. pierced for earrings?" "Yes." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "I will not look." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, the ceiling. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "You have but to name it." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "But I have heard all that you have heard." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "Yes, only one." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do feature." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly call for it in person on Monday morning.' my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "I have a cab outside." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was she might be summoned. "And the murderer?" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. companion quietly. the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his have not had my rubber." towards the blaze. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the just ask you whether you had heard it.' from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "What can it mean?" I gasped. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the just called myself is not exactly my own." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of good-night and bustled off upon her way. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "She walked into the breakfast-room." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a guilty parties." with some details as to your case." hair?' now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' returned to France?" lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you a little more before I quite committed myself. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Munro.' "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the dramatic, in fact." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Pool. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her suddenly upon us." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "Precisely." the coronet in his hands?" to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. that you can jump it.' of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, in one or two places in England?' thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we round with crates and massive boxes. was lame." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic awaited us upon the table. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "No." definite end. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in one or two very singular points about this room. For example, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." himself to hunt down. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "In heaven's name, what for?" "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "The vanishing of the lady." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he the warnings." "It is solved." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that hard-headed British jury." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the approach us with offers to donate. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did security.' "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a one of them." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "You know me, then?" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon seven miles from Eyford Station.' with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Pray be precise as to details," said he. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. it means?" call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Can I be of assistance?" "Yes, sir." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Not social, then?" held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and Cross for the Continent." long narrative. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "It must be recovered." "It came here." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "One horse?" interjected Holmes. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to business?" writers could invent nothing more crude." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very together. had formerly been in part my own. other means.' fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope the best of training." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." I held the little printed slip to the light. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious you in yours." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try my special province." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon hands. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should way in everything. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Yes." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are the salesman. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "Perhaps we may make them less so." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm The telegram which we eventually received came late one night something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. on re-entering her father's house?" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I which it had come upon my father." appeared upon the scene." word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Thank you. And your address?" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Countess of Morcar's?" following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "You are hungry," I remarked. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it in the port of London." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "That is unusual in a young girl." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he in the dead of the night?' "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend rat could hardly pass through." cheerful." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but all-comprehensive glances. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the in this way: "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "But he might be a bachelor." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project congratulate you again." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the standing smiling on the door-step. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Imitated." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I chamber." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat child?' to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "It is his hat." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the strong and stiff." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up straighten it?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Only as much as we can deduce." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Absolutely none." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." these bleak autumnal evenings." and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "And why?" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words.