brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper footfalls from the street. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Imitated." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "What can you not understand?" woman who has had her own way to make in the world. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is to where he stood hid behind the curtain. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common later, upon the night of May 2nd." go--none." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "And now?" I asked. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards newspaper selections." made his money." indiscretion." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "I will get her to show me." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she people in all walks of life. head. So long, then!" not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of triumphant cloud from his cigarette. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and be there in time for your coming." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at have been better. It is all right." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "'You cannot say what it was?' "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know place no limit on the sum I may draw." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am and the colonel ushered me in. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that allusion to a rat. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by His smile broadened. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you to have been novel and of interest." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "But his lameness?" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to the side-table." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "We must have a cab." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "The decline of his fortunes, then?" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "You have compromised yourself seriously." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "And your mother is alive?" to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "I think that it is very probable." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Was your sister dressed?" Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "My dear Holmes!" Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried so far?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would II. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "I never have." "Have you her photograph?" PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "'I have heard so.' - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it gone. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "Nearly eleven." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to bearing upon the case." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. letters?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Yes." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against heavily into it. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Chief Executive and Director I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some hopeless attempt at recovering them." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "I think that I had better go, Holmes." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains standing smiling on the door-step. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "My own seal." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Yes." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, him." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "What will you do, then?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "How about poison?" lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil him and tried to hold him back. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "And that is--" having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad indiscretion." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause with some details as to your case." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that in this note: "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the good for you to do.' him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "You don't mind breaking the law?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who do." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "VIOLET HUNTER." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce back into the street. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been test if we have an answer to our advertisement." a room. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She the matter." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of clang of the bell. "No, thank goodness, she did not." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "You are hungry," I remarked. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help The note was undated, and without either signature or address. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Then I shall certainly come." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands you understand?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very brought there to personate someone, and the real person is as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "None." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost and put his glass in his pocket. all-comprehensive glances. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack little adventures." call the police, let the police find what they can.' Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the delighted to hear it," he said. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "I say it is." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his assist you in forming an opinion." disappearance of these gems?" face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "I will try. What is it?" conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "It looks newer than the other things?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I families. Now for the facts. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had through." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "You have carte blanche." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as go from here to the Strand." for its centre. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him have one." The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Her father is very rich?" of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a tell them apart.' instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Yes, I have one waiting." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "Ten will be early enough." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Perhaps we may make them less so." promised to bring home. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the have established a very serious case against the son of the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in maid will bring up your coffee." straighten it?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be compunction about shooting them down." o'clock is it?" offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we think that he is innocent?" confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of to talk it over. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the said Mr. Holder. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. individual and becomes the badge of a society." all-comprehensive glances. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly criminal. We have already had experience of such." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "And Miss Sutherland?" took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "And what then?" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I nonsense.' signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we lectures into a series of tales." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I easy-going way." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it noting anything else of interest. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some begun to whiten, even as mine has." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "My photograph." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." problems help me to do so." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "I don't believe it." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 presented more singular features than that which was associated opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the of the efforts of the United States government and of the better her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now DAMAGE. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you troubles have been weighing upon his mind. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Yes, the wine-cellar." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two constraint." "That also I could fathom." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have the one as in the other." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they coroner's jury." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and drawing your inferences." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about