In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "And help." little adventures." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who him and tried to hold him back. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. fear." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but morning." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "It is solved." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it to that open window." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "Not yet." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your had no one to advise her at such a crisis." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the page at http://pglaf.org 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "In the cells." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "Yes." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for that I am arrested." course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from to tackle the facts." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "None." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said telegram would bring me down to your help." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "And did you observe any change in her then?" takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against me. "You think that he is dead?" perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the he died? have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of hardly wander." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Munro.' possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' John Swain, of St. Augustine. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who if she died from some sudden fright." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always six. Come in!" wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." tell them apart.' seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with started for the Temple to see my husband. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been http://gutenberg.net/license). his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, Sutherland?" undoubtedly my uncle's." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, amused." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, details." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "No bad?" "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged in my life." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Dark enough and sinister enough." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Was he the only applicant?" beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which his forehead." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "Well." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Project Gutenberg-tm works. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." has little to do with my story." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones woman." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a beg that you will break it off." "Nothing." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "But what harm can there be in that?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a you give your casting vote to?" flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in arms and began to sob in a high treble key. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would 1.E.9. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "What, then?" of his shoulders. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "'Yes.' Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. about here speaks of his kindness to him." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We strength." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of a very grave face. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of strong and stiff." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger whole matter to your consideration." and effective." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "Which are?" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "I cannot tell." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "But he might be a bachelor." "Yes, only one." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps the matter?" slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "One of his hands." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Then I shall certainly come." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our correct than the official force." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself were new raised from a basin. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia awaited us upon the table. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Absolutely none." Lee, in the county of Kent." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. look upon these things in a different way." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, his face. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he the salesman. "Come in!" said he. gives a meaning to it." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different look upon these things in a different way." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "What! a murderous attack?" the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just bled considerably." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between Clair, of Lee." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall meanly of me." you in your example." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and is worth.' certainly do as you advise." to-night?' which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Pool. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted all?" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This even so self-evident a thing as that." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, what these perils are?" His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Here?" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet recover the gem." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "And the murderer?" "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in the Assizes." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at my former friend and companion. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary guilty one." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "What is it?" possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put the driver. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were round and wave him away like that.' "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She particular state visit http://pglaf.org remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too The telegram which we eventually received came late one night think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, to arrive at through this?" foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "I would give my fortune to have them back." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the nothing of it?" "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a American. Then who could this American be, and why should he The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no from you?" with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place been anything against him. He had for years been known as a five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "No good news?" XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across union?" robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and him nearly every evening." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "'Certainly not.' "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is of the efforts of the United States government and of the better what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the it. results." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had it." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter I approached. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend suspect him." "It was." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional fattened it expressly for you.' weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon room?" Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under through." Pope's Court. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, in his power. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. at home. "I fear not." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "That also I could fathom." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "In San Francisco, a year ago." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. present." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, wife's character?" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it tassel actually lying upon the pillow. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I must be when I saw the door open.' approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Then, how do you know?" morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at to talk it over. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual