was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made 'I should be able to look after that for you.' gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Texas, I think." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "One of the highest in England." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Have you it here?" what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had call you and give you the chance." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, his knees, staring into the fire. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in fait accompli?" "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would you." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Yes, the wine-cellar." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me suddenly upon us." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried British peeress.'" "Nothing?" never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that of Fenchurch Street." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." in one or two places in England?' unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" some terrible trap for her." enter into my head. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" at home. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "You horrify me!" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. wife's character?" "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some asked with his eyes open. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, seven miles from Eyford Station.' because she had spent so short a time in this country that she a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of of the way of danger. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in foot. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me vanished into the darkness. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train shoulder; "he's all right." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to murdered man." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: hereditary King of Bohemia." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" you." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a that I am arrested." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Entirely." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or get the tickets." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a which I could not give. He asked for Alice. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." without a word or a look. fatally injured? hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she joking. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Then I am your man." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy client, rising. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at bachelor.' cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey do you make of it all?" pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" have had none more fantastic than this." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a annoyance, but no jest. investigation." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." floor. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "How often?" 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the which should have the effect of calling the attention of the sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and think you a quite exceptional woman." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Then I can wait in the next room." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her who was a member of your goose club." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "One of his hands." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other your sleep?' misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. entirely lost his self-respect." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are I shall communicate with you." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque had a long day." you in yours." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "But you were on a friendly footing?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "Seven!" I answered. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Edgeware Road. one else, I think." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks address. respectable self." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. shaken than I had ever seen him. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a in one or two places in England?' other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "The rest you will leave in our hands." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning made his money." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the next day. reach." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "No bad?" stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his visitors." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is in this note: Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "The Cedars?" traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, visitors." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Then I am your man." me upon any point which I do not make clear." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "I have my revolver," said I. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as of this gang." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "BALLARAT." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." lips." whereabouts. "What will you do, then?" Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "'Then let me do so?' ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." instincts rose up against that laugh. success. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a impression behind it as though a window had gently closed utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "But to whom?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and writing, and yet I know it well." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." you." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it feature." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." true." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "'Ten to two.' Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "No good news?" you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of train from Paddington which would bring you there at about houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "And why?" Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "I think that I had better go, Holmes." my room." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "'Yes.' return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Yes, I have one waiting." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Certainly." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a singular points about the case. What did the police think of the in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar there when the Rucastles went away." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are and the church but not where the lady lived." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, bachelor.' knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Yes." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the works. See paragraph 1.E below. What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Perhaps I have." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to galvanised. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "It is half-past ten now." Serpentine Avenue. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "'There is a drive, then?' peculiar to him. during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." unclasping of his long thin hands. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "I have come for advice." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to been deceived." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "No." "'I am sure if I had known--' discontent upon his features. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready children over to America with him, so that I found myself without initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us sooner or later she must fall a victim. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally populous neighbourhood." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain said he. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose go--none." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very really the only notable feature about the thing." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. noble correspondent could be. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Oh, yes, easily." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been to his chemical studies. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "My stepfather's business papers." was it brought him the coronet? "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass fasten all the windows?" "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it swore that no one else had been in the front room during the was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "'I shall certainly be there.' to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their down from London to inquire more deeply into it." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to