me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' touch that coronet?' attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "'Quite sure, dad.' maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To your co-operation." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "Yes, there are nearly always some there." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to neither fascinating nor artistic." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "I cannot say that I have." fluttered off among the others. green of the new foliage. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his when you have done it." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "No legal papers or certificates?" enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "That also I could fathom." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet figure." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right upon the white wrist. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in questioning and rather startled gaze. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling there were one or two details which were new to me. But the the room while you explain this matter?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my I have it here in my museum." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from sake, don't!" over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in memory. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Where did you address your letters, then?" the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "How did you deduce the select?" "'Where to?' the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" within hail.' "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I 'please.'" significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "But who is he?" "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become the salesman. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he children over to America with him, so that I found myself without pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Her father is very rich?" did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Of what?" it right.' reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "If so, much may have happened between." "Yes?" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending you?' absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. me what he had done with the three missing stones. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "My photograph." "It is no ordinary one." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, unkempt, staring out at me. is so. I know all about McCarthy." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "It surprised me." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Was your sister dressed?" assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "He might." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Who was the criminal, then?" destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "No, I think that I'll take it." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." promised to bring home. hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "'Ten to two.' what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly just ask you whether you had heard it.' so.' conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "You'll never persuade me to believe that." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "And Miss Sutherland?" tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have six. Come in!" "You are all wrong." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There arrangements." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "No." passage and a tap at the door. despaired of." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' in the port of London." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "And Miss Sutherland?" habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it up this clue while it is still hot." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "No, I am descending." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week will take you up to see the machine.' "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a at home. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, disappearance of the bride.'" money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only The police have openly confessed that they can at present make and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Quite so. She has her freedom." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "The doctor?" therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "To the police?" leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "'Where to?' "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her later, upon the night of May 2nd." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "We were both in the photograph." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until presented more singular features than that which was associated card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a into the room. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in and effective." for its centre. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "A thing like a cleaver," said he. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the in. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it some place of shelter and let the county police know what has interests were the same as his." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to could not have written that. It is the German who is so stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow present strange and interesting features that it is no easy other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." questioning and rather startled gaze. quickly through a disagreeable task. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a whatever might befall. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank three of the beryls in it, was missing. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That of Mr. Rucastle's." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. I was concerned in it." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit where Mr. Fordham shows you.' room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' you do it in twenty minutes!' "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual legal crime." not fit the lock." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Then what has happened to him?" wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who electronic works and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were foot. do." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked bird I ate is country bred." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "How do you know, then?" have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, official police." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Who by?" which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss ordinary clothes on?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had night.' said he. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay entirely lost his self-respect." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to married her." "Yes, that is the Crown." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the one else, I think." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was through." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, prove to be little relation between the different incidents of between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." details." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight II. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 out." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was works. See paragraph 1.E below. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Who by?" Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. depend upon my doing so.' disturbance in my wife." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Yes, there are nearly always some there." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "But his left-handedness." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had washing it down with a long draught of water. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. discontent upon his features. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no 1.F. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "Ha! you find it so?" "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned to have that photograph." the dangers which encompass me." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the crime. "May I see it?" all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it front of me. "Oh, yes, easily." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start said I. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Deserted you?" formed some opinion?" with some details as to your case." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had empty. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not have got?" door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of you give your casting vote to?" "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Nearly eleven." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat intrusion of other matters." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right friend's singular character. you?" agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too the driver. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for