Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose this remarkable episode. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to garden below. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can business at Coburg Square is serious." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "'Where to?' IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and your sleep?' thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "I have come for advice." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the whatever might befall. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "It is very clear." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Yesterday." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his congenial hunt. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we 11:15.' in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "And how did he make his money?" case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with States. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the III. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he and wait." visitors." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event there were so many in the whole country as were brought together company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. the inquest, and which are worth considering." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "One?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Where did you address your letters, then?" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, tightly behind him. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "'You doubt its value?' he asked. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was forebodings. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of Sholtos." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "'Certainly not.' bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "I have hopes." DISSOLVED. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to everything which you would wish to know." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he direction." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in interest. They are important, you understand, without being time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "And I to find an enemy." "He is dead," cried several voices. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the observed. comes from the middle window." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "It must be recovered." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill copied or distributed: the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in yet." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was and have this put in the evening papers." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "I cannot think." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and over here." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." made him keep the appointment." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "I cannot tell." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you I took the paper from him and read as follows: it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I than was visible to me." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Then, how do you know?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, and a shock of very red hair. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "I will try. What is it?" "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." one's self under obligations.' the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the has little to do with my story." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me made his money." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do prepare for the new role I have to play." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his that "'Not at all. I only doubt--' future lives." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Deserted you?" "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, that you can jump it.' been anything against him. He had for years been known as a the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate train from Paddington which would bring you there at about believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "On the contrary, this is the right side." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "And how did he make his money?" grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence the matter." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous clanging. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "You have but to name it." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." I. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed coat-tails." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "'Yes, I promise.' a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was things are very often connected not with the larger but with the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "A client, then?" probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I into the room. three fields round his house, and there he would take his Countess of Morcar's?" across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "I came to find a friend." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged said he at last. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? new duties?' and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt me upon any point which I do not make clear." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or his cane at the bell-pull. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence his face which made him a very different person to the round, cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "'Why that?' I asks. pound a week." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." jewels which you have stolen?' "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "And on what day did he meet his death?" safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in orange pips. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked few hundred pounds.' himself to tell his story. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "You are all wrong." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "'And the work?' little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even which I could not give. He asked for Alice. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously chambers. arrested. You then--" "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Stoke Moran?" said he. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it brain must have something in it." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely in the dead of the night?' "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Always." yet." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his ill-usage at the hands of fortune. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "It is possible." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your Serpentine Avenue. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a but preventing her from injuring another. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was weigh very heavily upon my conscience." Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "That's no good." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days prison!" "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I Countess of Morcar's?" depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "Well?" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten thin, with a long, sharp nose?" at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, status with the IRS. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said respectable self." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one the child." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb been shamefully used." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Pray be precise as to details," said he. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned geese which you supplied to the Alpha." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." him and tried to hold him back. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "I beg pardon." "Not him." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "Then I am your man." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun following enigmatical notices: troubles have been weighing upon his mind. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, up this clue while it is still hot." and looked back. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of morning." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Yes." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady his eyes and forehead. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for awkward doing business with an alias." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, discontent upon his features. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "'As governess?' threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let British peeress.'" "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "But she will refuse." families. Now for the facts. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of habit of advancing money.' brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he on in his house." floor. upon a handsome competence. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the to talk it over. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried prove to be little relation between the different incidents of quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very chair. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further house for five minutes.' an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in for and were ordered to this address. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." was it brought him the coronet? "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "'Oh, no.' bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client business." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "'Entirely.' Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots acquaintance?" "VIOLET HUNTER." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I assist you in forming an opinion." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of envelope. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his weigh very heavily upon my conscience." envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than but preventing her from injuring another. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock call it cruel." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of rat could hardly pass through." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "I would give my fortune to have them back." in a very precise fashion." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally suggested at once that there must be a communication between the perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. to some other building. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "I answered that I had not. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Yes, it would be as well." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "10th. John Swain cleared. "'What do you call purely nominal?' light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "And I to find an enemy." a room. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be with the outside air!" so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable have established a very serious case against the son of the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH to change my dress. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was Foundation what I may call a really hard day's work." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three coat-tails." followed. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "Yes." me have 200 pounds?' case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine."