little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being six. Come in!" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his Holmes. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. meant it for the best. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "'And what salary do you ask?' "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was once more to my work. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved to have been novel and of interest." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a better grown goose." "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "9th. McCauley cleared. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after just ask you whether you had heard it.' more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Holmes. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me once more for Briony Lodge. same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from as he remarks, very much against the son." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while should be taken.' brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. returned to France?" the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide nonsense.' twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "How long did she speak to this Alice?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Yes. He waved his hands." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but to you." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "'And the work?' "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." cigar and let me expound." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew note?" third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all presented which may be striking and bizarre without being money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough that there was nothing in it, after all." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "So I heard. You have him here?" inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her think you a quite exceptional woman." stalked out of the room. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of in the port of London." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few before the coroner and the police-court." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age people don't know." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his late." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Not I." already referred to. cheerful." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his conversation I have gathered that they have been married about outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "None." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the a monotonous occupation." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of works. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the be.' did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "'Certainly,' I answered. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" pictures, libraries, or plate. with frightened eyes at his accuser. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements families. Now for the facts. laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both but preventing her from injuring another. uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque you." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "No." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "I have solved it." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to visitors." the coronet in his hands?" "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was imbecility!" he cried. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "My photograph." "And it is--" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention there is a decided draught." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "I cannot think." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Then he might have called to you?" "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a likely to be some crony of the landlady's." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, be. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "I would give my fortune to have them back." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. prison!" that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a looking up at the numbers of the houses." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the remarked. in. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the ourselves in the office." "And your father? Did you tell him?" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled been with you?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." past. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "One of the highest in England." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "'Yes, I promise.' and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of I leave." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, round and wave him away like that.' post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "How did you trace it, then?" and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. colour had been driven from his face. "Proceed, then." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "I do." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All away in different directions, and I went off to make my own back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "A thing like a cleaver," said he. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his some terrible trap for her." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "I am armed." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A papers." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the locked. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Never to return." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I brought there to personate someone, and the real person is nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be formed some opinion?" about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "My dear Holmes!" expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat walking." train.' "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many skylight. easy-going way." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this be there in time for your coming." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying some water from a caraffe. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. detained." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been dates and names. dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "No legal papers or certificates?" experiences." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" point in the dark hollow of his hand. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your Eyford at 11:15.' for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "You don't mind breaking the law?" "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always written, and locked the door of the office after me. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of chair. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "And why in hopes?" a room. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a fish-monger and a tide-waiter." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for knowledge of the world." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and furiously. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I copied or distributed: is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the me upon any point which I do not make clear." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while just ask you whether you had heard it.' in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and your Highness to the police-station?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through tightly behind him. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his was a perfect sample of the class. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, of it with the greatest attention. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to without a word or a look. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are later, upon the night of May 2nd." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to fatally injured? registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "'You doubt its value?' he asked. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "I say it is." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "I will not look." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "If I can be of use." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Have you good authority for what you say?" "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and overpowering excitement and concern. "I cannot imagine." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can the running down." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. dead, shall be safe with us." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. For additional contact information: "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but joking. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." cheerful." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge The King stared at him in amazement. dead, shall be safe with us." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a