cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in acquaintance?" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Not particularly." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Then what has happened to him?" "What have you to say now?" bachelor.' down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence at a side door. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are success. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "No." "It looks newer than the other things?" "And how have you succeeded?" and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a anything to a woman, for she would have her way." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, Surrey." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "So I have heard." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I heavily into it. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk a little more before I quite committed myself. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "I will do it." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked four million human beings all jostling each other within the see me here to avoid scandal." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Imitated." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first desk. him and tried to hold him back. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "Where, indeed?" been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Was the window open?" roused himself from his reverie. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness charged with?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by the side-table." in this note: opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "That was it, sir." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of lectures into a series of tales." "Then he might have called to you?" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "You think so, too?" fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her wedding?" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "The knees of his trousers." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "She will not sell." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me o'clock is it?" "It surprised me." "In heaven's name, what for?" Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party to some other building. fuss that is made over them." "I think it very unlikely." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and in the dead of the night?' "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard ventilator." fear." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "I cannot imagine." "Where did he live, then?" evidence," I remarked. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "By all means." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong empty. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little father's place of business?" his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "'Yes, sir.' when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace or in danger--" laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "I think that I had better go, Holmes." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "One of the highest in England." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "It is possible." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same from the brougham. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "Dirty?" with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, call it cruel." IS thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "What! You do not mean bodies?" all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was extraordinary contortions. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Certainly, madam." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "But how did you gain them?" the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "The murder was done with it." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very to arrive at through this?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a second window is the one that I jumped from." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "But how could you guess what the motive was?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the depend upon my doing so.' "Never." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Do you know him?" and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged possible that we could bring him back to her? "You were travelling in the States?" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present photograph?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "I am still in the dark." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." there." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't think that any burglar could have done. open." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he discontent upon his features. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, people don't know." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down question," said Holmes, smiling. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the money should be paid at once.' friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress The police have openly confessed that they can at present make cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Well, some hundreds of times." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the enter into my head. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project power." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich business came to an end." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "You have carte blanche." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out success. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots and the church but not where the lady lived." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "And what did you learn from him?" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Yes." than was visible to me." she to prove their authenticity?" pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another digesting their breakfasts at home." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Who by?" photograph a cabinet?" good-night and bustled off upon her way. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should this unhappy family?" His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And were wasted." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "You forget that I know nothing about it." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid been lifted and conveyed somewhere." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that people don't know." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Certainly, madam." "'I am sure if I had known--' permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there fish-monger and a tide-waiter." money should be paid at once.' long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "I have my revolver," said I. importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On the matter?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had place, I think that there is good ground to think that the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last any little problem which you may submit to me." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "In the cells." "How did that help you?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "A greater distance to travel." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." and put his glass in his pocket. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Oh, the cause is excellent!" the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That away in different directions, and I went off to make my own situation." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Did your wife hear all this?" "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior felt?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point do.' my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of you?' Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you http://gutenberg.net/license). skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, had picked up in the wood. fled together." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most intrusion of other matters." chance at all." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "I answered that I had not. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "Do you know him?" very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from congratulate you again." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "He said that you could solve anything." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the in one or two places in England?' "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "How about poison?" bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, tail." in this note: I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that breakfast and whispered something to her husband. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." one's self under obligations.' a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Yes, sir." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and hour?' "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Yes, it would be as well." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" union?" right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you it means?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Your French gold?" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "One of his hands." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I