"'No, I know no one in these parts.' that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what used to be." copied or distributed: took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "Yes, I have one waiting." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. served to weaken the effect. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' ready to-morrow?' souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "And why in hopes?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different Young McCarthy must be got off, however." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." my room." here." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "Yes." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of entirely devoid of interest." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the a very grave face. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may has little to do with my story." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the have had none more fantastic than this." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and it? Did I buy the geese off you?" that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. father's place of business?" suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in yourselves in at night?" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite footfalls from the street. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "My opinion is in no way altered." come either from the window or the door. My attention was Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who again, where I was soon asleep. like that before?" "What, then?" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside suggested at once that there must be a communication between the done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "No, I had a dozen." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "I don't believe it." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the know that the truth is known." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our with her." "'Where could I find him?' had no one to advise her at such a crisis." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Seven!" I answered. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work business at Coburg Square is serious." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "What will you do, then?" centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For Holmes. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "And I say east," said my patient. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "No. What a strange idea!" "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "One of his hands." Project Gutenberg-tm works. making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "We must have a cab." room?" between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "I am to be neutral?" solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "No?" black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "No, distinctly professional." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The into her hand at the door and which lured her within their way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "I beg pardon." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under that I am arrested." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father over part of the map. "What do you read?" multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and Cross for the Continent." see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and that I can to serve you." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "And I." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "Yes, he did." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is keep the flames under. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a could go. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he absorbing." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, Street. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, as noiselessly as she had come. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm row." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Holmes' face clouded over. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you his cane at the bell-pull. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "And how have you succeeded?" "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy to-morrow." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my for and were ordered to this address. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "No, I had a dozen." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "'What would be the hours?' I asked. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "You have carte blanche." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Certainly." never came back." meant it for the best. "What will you say?" "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one daring than any effort of the imagination." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "But I have heard all that you have heard." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "I never have." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all because she had spent so short a time in this country that she all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "You have carte blanche." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Witness: Nothing definite. "I will not look." keep the flames under. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "I cannot think." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever letters?" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I you for a few hours?" "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "And it is--" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire astonishment. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "I see no marks." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very arrested. You then--" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If awaited us upon the table. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well Farm upon the left." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will what do you think they found in the pockets?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "'Never.' that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" other lovers by making love himself." "If so, much may have happened between." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and clanging. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "You did not overhear what they said?" "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. through." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "In which, sir?" can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a whereabouts. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone some place of shelter and let the county police know what has say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "That is possible." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "About a month then." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do you want, then?' large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "I will, Miss Turner." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "Come in!" said he. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. him." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Very truly yours, villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove bill, which interests me deeply." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the less than 26s. 4d. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was skylight. case before our client came into the room." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs Farm upon the left." me upon any point which I do not make clear." shall not find me ungrateful." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "And Irene Adler?" compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of business in the City. She little knew what. "No, finished." heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "In answer to an advertisement." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms wife's character?" slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Have you good authority for what you say?" the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" the loss of it. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the matter." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I over part of the map. "What do you read?" no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "We have tried and failed." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all the coroner come to?" why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, to a light-house. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What anything to a woman, for she would have her way." other lovers by making love himself." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "My private note-paper." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and meant." Project Gutenberg-tm works. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "That is easily got." it. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "Thank you. And your address?" which I could not give. He asked for Alice. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with of note-paper. It read in this fashion: During two years I have had three consultations and one small dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search Clair, of Lee." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than 1.F. "And I." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "'Then let me do so?' pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the business." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect could go. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss to change my dress. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in and glanced through. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have guilty one." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Heh?' footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little The summons was a brief and urgent one. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "And the cigar-holder?" your equipment. my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the strode off upon his way.