day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, lumber-room." carpenter." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" man. closely." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was lamp in his hand. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself hour." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet see me here to avoid scandal." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side John Swain, of St. Augustine. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "No?" from you?" this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "I am still in the dark." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Yes." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the strength." to a more successful conclusion." "Not social, then?" which we had just quitted. of." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work felt?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to question you as to those details which seem to me to be most coat-tails." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I meant it for the best. might have a private word with us. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "My Mary? Impossible!" pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "You are all wrong." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Never to return." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon all that?" ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to fasten all the windows?" a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a Arthur Conan Doyle successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The enter into my head. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his foresight and the moral retrogression?" fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for said he. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the hour." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "'Yes, sir.' accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, tell them apart.' "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the politicians who had been sent down from the North. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the business at Coburg Square is serious." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I learned something! Where are the gems?" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever confronted him. "And leave your case unfinished?" his huge brown hands. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he spark where all is dark to me." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "I cannot imagine." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another locked. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "And why?" such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." the Assizes." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of sound at heart." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day handed it to him. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "'What would be the hours?' I asked. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "Quite so." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Bought." Sutherland?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported as yours." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major brandy and water within his reach. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled letters?" set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to during that time.' a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers wall." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "No." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." affection." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and vanished into the darkness. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Could he throw no light?" the iron safe, which he closed upon it. and wait." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He which are rolled in Rotterdam." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it becomes even more simple." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my thirty. Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just I leave." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "How did you trace it, then?" neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "To the police?" "It is his hat." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, felt the room to be a little close.' so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "By all means." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed the running down." rat could hardly pass through." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to noise which awoke you from your sleep?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "Who by?" "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "Perhaps we may make them less so." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so Arthur Conan Doyle "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated remarked. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project comes from the middle window." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its there were one or two details which were new to me. But the looking up at the numbers of the houses." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the have established a very serious case against the son of the the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind Eyford." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this this as likely?" he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done amused." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest you understand?" "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." said I. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "I cannot think." success. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "You heard nothing yourself last night?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, burst out into a roar of laughter. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which likely to be some crony of the landlady's." furiously. "How are you getting on?" carriage. It was a chestnut." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I instituted." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as straighten it?" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. name is different." burst into a hearty fit of laughter. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "But who is he?" much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been the inquest, and which are worth considering." charged with?" incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "In what way?" asked Holmes. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Who was the criminal, then?" question. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a ourselves in the office." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the interest. They are important, you understand, without being nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the that I am arrested." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped business matters.' hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret this Miss Turner." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I and your relations to her." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Married! When?" actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the careless servant girl?" "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "I fear not." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; said he. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "Yes, only one." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "And how have you succeeded?" as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Certainly, madam." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Certainly." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the really the only notable feature about the thing." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' at once, for I have only half an hour." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. purpose equally well?" "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position that before taking the final step I should like to submit the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in for and were ordered to this address. to surprise her." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and help us in this matter." we went to search for him, face downward in a little this poor creature." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Yes." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a ran thus: in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "By all means." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, silent! Oh, he will be silent!' strength." "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman crackling voice. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch look dissatisfied." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "The Cedars?" to-night?" I asked. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is of the efforts of the United States government and of the better