garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass the night.' "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. happened." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic should be so warm over such a trifle." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face chill to my heart. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the served to weaken the effect. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I an introduction to him?" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, of his shoulders. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "By all means." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when where we are going." fatally injured? should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than said he. compunction about shooting them down." "Eh? What was that?" St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling own family. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the served to weaken the effect. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I am in hopes that she does." upon a handsome competence. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies that I can to serve you." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "Yes." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and morning." "It is true that I have been generally successful." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most Pool. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." once more. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience train.' in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, strange features which were associated with the two crimes which tassel actually lying upon the pillow. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had some water from a caraffe. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, constraint." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I thought that she would have been so carried away." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the It was close upon four before the door opened, and a Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "But what will you do?" matter." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "And for present expenses?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, corner of the building. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his you?' other means.' but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "No sign of it?" "What is it?" "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation a few minutes he said that it would be all right. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "At what time?" "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly other, as fresh and trim as possible. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried comes from the middle window." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Could he throw no light?" "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "I cannot say that I have." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Yes, from Horsham." and the whole place is in a blaze." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Well?" "But how will you look?" the stable lane now." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Well?" ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Because he was handy and would come cheap." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "'Where could I find him?' "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be envelope. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "Nothing?" "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "And the murderer?" roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut your bag." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Of Friday, June 19th." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking character. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian very old mansion. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Holmes' room. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this cheerful." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but ordinary clothes on?" "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Come in!" said Holmes. should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles opened the door, and slipped through. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and better in every way that they should make their position a little "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the soul! here is her carriage at the door." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Is he quiet?" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Yes, the wine-cellar." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, quick march!" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad keep the flames under. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was crime." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "You have carte blanche." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the mysterious end." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "But your client--" things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "And that is--" clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB along the entire front of the house, with three long windows satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to death." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "It is no ordinary one." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might indiscretion." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "No more words. Get out!" as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two present." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year families. Now for the facts. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we that you wished to speak to me?' indiscretion." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." depend upon your compliance." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "'A dozen yards or so.' one which it was hard to resist. "It surprised me." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble grasp, he hurried from the room. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his troubles have been weighing upon his mind. DISSOLVED. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. where we are going." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently kindly on the shoulder. "What can it mean?" I gasped. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "'What would be the hours?' I asked. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Then the page we have seen--" Literary Archive Foundation home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "9th. McCauley cleared. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "You are hungry," I remarked. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "'Why that?' I asks. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing will take you up to see the machine.' breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened house for five minutes.' there was no need for father to know." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Then how many are there?" photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me brain must have something in it." that I can to serve you." which it had come upon my father." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "It is very clear." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my it means?" fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "No, distinctly professional." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means his huge brown hands. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our other, as fresh and trim as possible. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his people don't know." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Have you it here?" "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City been able to understand it, in a very few words. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be may never be exposed to such a temptation." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your matters immensely." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "The murder was done with it." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a about here speaks of his kindness to him." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. as the one I chose?' really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "They are typewritten," I remarked. It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "In heaven's name, what for?" the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I is four-and-twenty." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in visitors." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come province." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "But what is it you wish?" "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your some mystery and the punishment of some crime." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "It is possible." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "You did not overhear what they said?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. a room. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and 'please.'" Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he DISSOLVED. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "She told me to ask you." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "In which, sir?" into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was Clair, of Lee." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine again on its way. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Absolutely?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a you understand?" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "It is solved." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a have been better. It is all right." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a I shall communicate with you." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "And why in hopes?" "And you thought he was pulled back?" completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable has little to do with my story." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Then how many are there?" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "But the mystery?" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "Witness: I should prefer not to answer.