It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still wife's character?" my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "And what did you see?" hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in get the tickets." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Holmes' face clouded over. him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while in his hands." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with photograph?" the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. crime." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "And is that all?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no approach us with offers to donate. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as your troubles." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to point in the dark hollow of his hand. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, disturbance in my wife." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Leave Paddington by the 11:15." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his all?" himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I nights." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. rat could hardly pass through." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, his wife has ceased to love him." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the 'I should be able to look after that for you.' they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Perhaps I have." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "By train from Waterloo." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say already referred to. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "I cannot imagine." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and call for it in person on Monday morning.' even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. room?" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "Quite so." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear companion quietly. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; of them has the shutters up.' "But how?" anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, with the outside air!" should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round were new raised from a basin. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise quick march!" "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." to-night?' enter Dr. Roylott's room." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Look there!" said he. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Will you go?" "We were both in the photograph." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and roused himself from his reverie. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I with you alone." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I it. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "It surprised me." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That Edgeware Road. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "My own seal." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "And your father? Did you tell him?" Pope's Court, Fleet Street." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of just called myself is not exactly my own." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put drove away. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "So it appears." "That is it on the dressing-table." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Tired-looking or fresh?" the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Now, then, what's the last entry?" didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a morning." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "At what time?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "No." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the there when the Rucastles went away." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with used to be." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he tell them apart.' harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Yes, it would be as well." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended such person." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The with her." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "'In my own bureau.' frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over crowd. me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief this man was intellectual?" of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "I would pay ten." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A colonel looking down at me. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my Holmes." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, door?" "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "One horse?" interjected Holmes. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the date of his supposed suicide." man. I know him from the photograph." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own burst into a hearty fit of laughter. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the over with notes and figures. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the him. go--none." "Whose house is it?" true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." the dangers which encompass me." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately round and wave him away like that.' "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "No, my brougham is waiting." writing, and yet I know it well." room?" that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Not yet." the salesman. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the remarked. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a strong and stiff." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "Come in!" said he. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's License. You must require such a user to return or "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. indeed which he could not unravel. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had forebodings. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of so.' wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "And the cigar-holder?" left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must as he folded up the epistle. jewels which you have stolen?' "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained hands. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "Ha! you find it so?" I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Precisely." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of vanished into the darkness. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Oh, fresh and glossy." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Do you go out much in society?" dates and names. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." to arrive at through this?" WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. with you alone." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the opportunities to fix the problem. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend against a man in the prime of life?" "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin very morning of my second wedding." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "How on earth--" "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a you." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me o'clock is it?" late!' visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly colonel looking down at me. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? Henry Baker is a member." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. minor matters until to-morrow." night.' said he. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom gone. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of The King stared at him in amazement. fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Sutherland. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester chill to my heart. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every few hundred pounds.' national property. I was determined that the law should have its "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." The King stared at him in amazement. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against held up the lantern and gazed about him. "I cannot tell." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six McCarthy's innocence. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity any." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." felt the room to be a little close.' outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all bedroom door." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent works. See paragraph 1.E below.