continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "How about poison?" exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen Pope's Court. fire. You quite follow me?" was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six American. Then who could this American be, and why should he living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me in a friendly supper." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such article?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "But she could not love him." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Then you may be so with me." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and congratulate you again." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "I am sure." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "At half-wages, in fact." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "It certainly sounds feasible." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the quickly through a disagreeable task. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such it were putty." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the where we are going." "Yes, at the mines." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the orange pips. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery London for the present?" have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom *** START: FULL LICENSE *** hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am is acting for the best. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. appeal." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of in his hands." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "No, thank goodness, she did not." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I *** START: FULL LICENSE *** south, for the country is more deserted there." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of if only as a check to my own memory." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and the date of his supposed suicide." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against you came in." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Thank you. And your address?" or other trace. But how on earth--" "And why in hopes?" But Holmes shook his head gravely. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which means taking possession of that which another person has a prior cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "It is solved." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" whatever might befall. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has to a more successful conclusion." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "'Yes.' postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always and inquire as to the address." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's politicians who had been sent down from the North. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this as he folded up the epistle. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "Oh, the cause is excellent!" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "In San Francisco, a year ago." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "And you don't know his address?" quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "I will do it." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of said he at last. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom yards of it?' skylight. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Your French gold?" entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Ten will be early enough." "You have compromised yourself seriously." carried out of court." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right the Red-headed League." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then any little problem which you may submit to me." "It is half-past ten now." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his noble correspondent could be. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists outside." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the Red-headed League." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport through." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." figure." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Not I." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands young Openshaw's." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Certainly, madam." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which in. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "What have you to say now?" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' Countess of Morcar's?" my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop secret." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, never to learn it at all." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had there in twenty minutes." was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously characteristics, but those are the more obvious." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Pray continue your narrative." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "'About the same.' saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "It is possible." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without interest. They are important, you understand, without being your bag." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few chamber." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows question you as to those details which seem to me to be most ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "The decline of his fortunes, then?" plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very Lestrade of Scotland Yard." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "Ha! you find it so?" were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would depend upon your compliance." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "My last client of the sort was a king." or in danger--" it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "None." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend the tragedy. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "She will not sell." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I leaning back in his chair. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father think that he is innocent?" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "At what time?" met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." see me here to avoid scandal." there has been an enclosure here!" neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of stalked out of the room. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him habit of advancing money.' plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "What do you make of that, Watson?" too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's seen the man in the road." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be second." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" he. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "By no means." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was death." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "No." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can maid will bring up your coffee." ventilator." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by appeal." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of man. I know him from the photograph." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. which are rolled in Rotterdam." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the in his power. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no once more on the important position which you have been fortunate of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "'Where could I find him?' "May I see it?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which appointment with me for six o'clock?" with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Yes." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in Countess of Morcar's?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner interests were the same as his." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "My dear Holmes!" opened a pocket-book and took out a note. call for it in person on Monday morning.' key of the affair now." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to was lame." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "'What do you call purely nominal?' the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "Was he the only applicant?" of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing Have you good authority for what you say?" peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Here?" drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the said he. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you side. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a you in yours." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." this man was intellectual?" present strange and interesting features that it is no easy tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her few hundred pounds.' details should find their way into the papers. Inspector the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him call it cruel." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. them?" Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into appeal." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "But you have hopes?" most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another relation between them, and what the object of his repeated leaning back in his chair. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Seven!" I answered. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had