"'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Was there a secret marriage?" Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I without a word or a look. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had The King stared at him in amazement. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story always that they were such commands as a lady might with "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "'I am sure if I had known--' I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "And from a noble client?" each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my him and tried to hold him back. Mrs. Toller serenely. "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Then you may be so with me." said Mr. Holder. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is DISSOLVED. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when did not hear it also.' "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But only touch the interest." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Perhaps we may make them less so." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it events, Mr. Windibank!" lamp. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and later, upon the night of May 2nd." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the third from London." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had memory. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, his fortune, and I went back to pa. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the woman who has had her own way to make in the world. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "You have a clue?" this poor creature." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "That is it on the dressing-table." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, your Highness to the police-station?" that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I drawing your inferences." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual go--none." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Here?" For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making the coronet in his hand?" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when child?' a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, hurried by. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called papers must be those that are destroyed.' livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong front of me. our word." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I whole matter to your consideration." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" directors, with the result that you have seen." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "How did that help you?" Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his your only hope of safety." noting anything else of interest. have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it seven miles from Eyford Station.' the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a national property. I was determined that the law should have its intimate personal affairs in this public manner." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you approach us with offers to donate. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if way in." people don't know." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. relief. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "He said that you could solve anything." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Have you her photograph?" been able to understand it, in a very few words. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough most interesting one." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently delighted to hear it," he said. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, which it had come upon my father." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose giving me time to thank him. word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "I never have." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a showing my impatience. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "But what harm can there be in that?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" fact, we may call it conclusive." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "You know me, then?" my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "No more words. Get out!" chemical work which was so dear to him. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a he died? had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I humiliation." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my mysterious business." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The plantation.' upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped get her out of the way." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed dramatic, in fact." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, Pool. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "The gentleman I describe." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Then the page we have seen--" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a the King without delay." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which shall use the carriage to-night." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "It's nothing of the kind." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his four million human beings all jostling each other within the disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the go--none." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "But you were on a friendly footing?" the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should was shining brightly. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "It certainly sounds feasible." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "I guessed as much." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "'I have already given you my word.' "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "'As governess?' "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "And sit in the dark?" until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I stalked out of the room. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "But his left-handedness." "I say it is." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "This photograph!" stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, drove away. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been Arthur Conan Doyle method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, hair?' I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl for its centre. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass memory. was shining brightly. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the did not hear it also.' have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Your presence might be invaluable." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "And when will you call?" "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, where she found matters as described by the last witness. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my I leave." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Have you her photograph?" "Yes, they were peculiar boots." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A over his head with a sweet womanly caress. present." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Of what day?" always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "There are none." someone who had been in Australia." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing with the outside air!" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, heavy and sharp instrument." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." him." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In him nearly every evening." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "How do you know, then?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "'Yes, it was gone.' such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very over part of the map. "What do you read?" ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Pope's Court. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "My photograph." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very matter." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "It missed him, then?" "Yes." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "Precisely so. But how--" provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue new duties?' fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the disturbance in my wife." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "But I have heard all that you have heard." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the not within a twentieth part of the market price." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "It is his hat." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed his face which made him a very different person to the round, understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and case before our client came into the room." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Was he the only applicant?" Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The that there was nothing in it, after all." "Certainly." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual photograph a cabinet?" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "10th. John Swain cleared. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "How did he come?" looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I done what I asked you, Jones?" THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, charge against him will break down." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora