next day. "Then the page we have seen--" as he folded up the epistle. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about think you a quite exceptional woman." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "But she will refuse." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a touch that coronet?' "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we it." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down bedroom door." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "I am following you closely," I answered. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from coat-tails." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll stalked out of the room. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. such attractions and accomplishments?' "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the you?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a it means?" pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who not fit the lock." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all lids now and glanced across at his visitor. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked quick march!" followed. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "But who is he?" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we prisoner's face. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Yes, it was twisted." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to breakfast?" "Get out!" said he. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the appeared upon the scene." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "Yes." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just the tragedy. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "No, I think that I'll take it." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "'What are you doing there?' he asked. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Where does the thing come from?' He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a people don't know." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from and a shock of very red hair. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, charged with?" own family. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." developed." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was once more. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Perhaps we may make them less so." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "Never." only touch the interest." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" annoyance, but no jest. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, events than those which have happened in my own family." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, province." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note purpose of examination. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "'Entirely.' "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned I shall continue with my miserable story. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding returning from some small jollification and was making his way in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "You know me, then?" in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was leaning back in his chair. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the fled together." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had case before our client came into the room." "The landlord of the Alpha." "To ruin me." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a of his shoulders. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "To ruin me." of them has the shutters up.' Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He pressing in one house as in another. shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "I do." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" married her." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very Where does the thing come from?' ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "And how did he make his money?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Yes, sir." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "'Yes, sir.' prove to be little relation between the different incidents of say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." little trying to do so much typewriting?" must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "At half-wages, in fact." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called in darkness. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. humiliation." "I have my revolver," said I. that there was nothing in it, after all." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "This concluded the examination of the witness." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has a little more before I quite committed myself. think that he is innocent?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an perplexity from it to my illustrious client. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed outsides of the windows. "In what way?" asked Holmes. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. I approached. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" him to go away.' "The knees of his trousers." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "No. What a strange idea!" eavesdroppers?' inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, bachelor.' From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "My opinion is in no way altered." no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital placed his cuttings. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Ten will be early enough." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "My dear Holmes!" electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There nonsense.' "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Not particularly." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? in a friendly supper." it were putty." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "May I see it?" a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her success. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the room while you explain this matter?" little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "'Oh, no.' "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to learned something! Where are the gems?" caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "You have but to name it." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough lost nothing by them." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would himself to tell his story. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "No sign of it?" "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of Holmes rather sternly. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Tired-looking or fresh?" man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." it." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the bears upon the case?" to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended to tell." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I me have 200 pounds?' halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never believe that I should never have any practice at all. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Pope's Court, Fleet Street." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is page at http://pglaf.org vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men conceal it?" "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you the bottom.' "How did that help you?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "Your French gold?" He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear breakfast." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "The rest you will leave in our hands." than to us. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his details should find their way into the papers. Inspector before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her I nodded to show that I had heard. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the memory. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered pressing in one house as in another. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may whether it answered to the description of any of their up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "No, but the enclosure is." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside must be when I saw the door open.' "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all better in every way that they should make their position a little Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't unkempt, staring out at me. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year the room while you explain this matter?" taking in every detail of the apartment. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like mysterious end." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a room?" man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "And I say east," said my patient. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "And you don't know his address?" the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." following enigmatical notices: were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. distinguish the words: