gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his thin legs towards the fire. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Stoke Moran?" said he. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "'I have heard so.' pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of during which he might have communicated with his friend the "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Of what?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few outside. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several me. promised to bring home. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project shoulder; "he's all right." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a your sleep?' sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. retorted upon me, and I on you." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's be best to do. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that so.' against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "I am in hopes that she does." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that that you wished to speak to me?' feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand to a more successful conclusion." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Yes." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "I have solved it." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar directors, with the result that you have seen." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Eyford." the general public were present, then?" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just the south-west, I see." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another Lee, in the county of Kent." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll away in different directions, and I went off to make my own you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "'What are you doing there?' he asked. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang detective. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it hair?' mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that other means.' pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind death." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Perfectly so." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave happened." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, new acquaintance to Baker Street. weapon." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your hour?' refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he Edgeware Road. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Just look it up, then." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" said he. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "My opinion is in no way altered." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the was not a bird to be seen there. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "It is solved." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I letters?" only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official weapon." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Precisely." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "That is not always so easy." advice." paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Did you observe the colour?" it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may really the only notable feature about the thing." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "'Then let me do so?' "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Who by?" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we said he. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, cigar and let me expound." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in annoyance, but no jest. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, it." the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his would apply.' space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love might have a private word with us. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at foot. black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty the salesman. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you one which it was hard to resist. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and works. See paragraph 1.E below. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was points to suicide?" protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after that, and I came down." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself cup of tea. only touch the interest." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the not come at once?" He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Yes, sir." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so maid will bring up your coffee." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "My stepfather's business papers." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an spark where all is dark to me." in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. drawing your inferences." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "And why in hopes?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Never to return." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "Very much so." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "'Why that?' I asks. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "My dear Holmes!" it." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there know all about it," he snarled. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Perhaps we may make them less so." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and hurried by. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "Ha! you find it so?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "That's no good." not fit the lock." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, papers on the sundial.'" by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in in darkness. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the over with notes and figures. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." me where it went to?" "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and which I could not give. He asked for Alice. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. with the outside air!" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "No. What a strange idea!" believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a prepare for the new role I have to play." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my business matters.' upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Your sister is dead, then?" politicians who had been sent down from the North. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger as yours." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have Surrey." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "And how have you succeeded?" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had she to prove their authenticity?" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a threw himself down with his face to the pillow. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is and that he would see to anything that turned up. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you happened." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there gives a meaning to it." "No, but the enclosure is." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "She walked into the breakfast-room." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily at my remark. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very have I gained?" Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Never." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with address. "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is your room." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "Dr. Becher's." there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert side. there!' no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off question. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is writing, and yet I know it well." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little mystery may be cleared along those lines." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I