knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "And the murderer?" status with the IRS. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "No." your bag." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Nor running a chance of arrest?" this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was must compliment you." out." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in were wasted." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "'Certainly not. But why?' has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after not, dad?" she asked. "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Has he come with you to-night?" wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Entirely." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand here." of the one which your family is now devouring." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "'In my own bureau.' passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his my room." meanly of me." him and tried to hold him back. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me that you saw all that I did." key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor place of silver." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not the coronet in his hands?" "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts where she found matters as described by the last witness. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon tapping his fingers upon the table. visitors." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and vanished into the darkness. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if into the bag, and made for the door. empty. outsides of the windows. of the vacancies.' the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to had this final quarrel? abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he stalked out of the room. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, she slowly sank and died without having recovered her leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the have I gained?" "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she to have that photograph." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was upon the shelf for the interim." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "I cannot tell." he. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under locked. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we thin legs towards the fire. emerged. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom will take you up to see the machine.' "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "What will you say?" "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "We must sit without light. He would see it through the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back beg that you will break it off." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and situation." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "'Where could I find him?' in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "How often?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and wife's character?" "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do think you a quite exceptional woman." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That seven miles from Eyford Station.' "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "10th. John Swain cleared. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but little adventures." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "I was mad--insane." so far?" "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the shall use the carriage to-night." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door the nursery. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To his eyes and forehead. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good the best of training." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets touch that coronet?' great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "No, distinctly professional." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that God! What an exposure! What can I do?" ourselves in the office." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to during the last few years, and there are many noble families to copied or distributed: His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead upon the shelf for the interim." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." flock.' of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the prison!" inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Yes." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I open." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and important." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "And how in the world did you find them?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of stood on the top of it. "This photograph!" "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A this unhappy family?" THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to wedding?" week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to Pope's Court. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Yes." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and be. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his himself to hunt down. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "But the mystery?" goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the have got?" business?" overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had I nodded again. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, most interesting one." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be weapon." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it them, and came down just as you departed. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding with some details as to your case." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened and prosperity to your house. Good-night." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your of." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, go from here to the Strand." corner of the building. telegram would bring me down to your help." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Where to?" Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do your equipment. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is to arrive at through this?" "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "I have seen the police." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and indiscretion." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Pool. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his relief. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the the station." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from developed." grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, words came to my lips. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be but preventing her from injuring another. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as go--none." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious been shamefully used." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried the inner apartment." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to chambers. congratulate you again." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "Stolen, then." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "I am to be neutral?" overpowering excitement and concern. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square awaited us upon the table. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, to have that photograph." important." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Very truly yours, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I you give your casting vote to?" was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not views." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom little adventures." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "The knees of his trousers." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord pierced for earrings?" stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, to have that photograph." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "I am to be neutral?" Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a was keenly on my guard against him. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend villagers almost as much as their master. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his ago." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called ourselves in the office." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "What, then, did Peterson do?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon newspaper selections." to-night." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Nothing." photograph?" and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery