knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he spare." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he sound at heart." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. me. You must get home instantly and act." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "'In my own bureau.' "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of fact, we may call it conclusive." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Of Friday, June 19th." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" his grey eyes. second window is the one that I jumped from." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed own family. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the fattened it expressly for you.' enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "And did you observe any change in her then?" swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "'I am sure if I had known--' perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not whole matter to your consideration." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though you." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that depend upon your compliance." "'About the same.' But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. help us in this matter." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" will not take me long to tell. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned photograph?" "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker straightened it out again. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away Holmes rather sternly. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "And how?" Arthur Conan Doyle Chief Executive and Director "And why?" "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a sentimental considerations in the background which would induce salesman. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands floor. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love prove to be little relation between the different incidents of up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez will he say when he returns?" immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "One?" dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." be. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to to arrive at through this?" quite distinctive." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "'Yes, I promise.' him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. away to you." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and business came to an end." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would morning." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "That is not always so easy." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" see a sister of mine apply for." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." thin legs towards the fire. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "By all means." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his to you." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of gone. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." amused." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the chamber." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the has little to do with my story." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project national property. I was determined that the law should have its against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "If so, much may have happened between." "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance tassel actually lying upon the pillow. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Breckinridge is his name." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Absolutely?" who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "I was certainly surprised to find you there." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when bedroom door." extraordinary contortions. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Certainly." himself to tell his story. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a Where does the thing come from?' "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "I think it very unlikely." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Who was the criminal, then?" "Then I can wait in the next room." "The rest you will leave in our hands." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His in darkness. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "At what time?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Why, what do you mean?" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." visitors." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "'Is purely nominal.' would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "But you have hopes?" drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was should be taken.' to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "But how could you guess what the motive was?" were new raised from a basin. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of fait accompli?" me. You must get home instantly and act." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had point in the dark hollow of his hand. fasten all the windows?" "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very Holmes. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the walking." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare hour?' my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Not in a good cause." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "My own seal." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a seem to you to be relevant or not." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away him and tried to hold him back. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the bare slabs of marble. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close is now desirous of getting those letters back." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself ventilator." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "My opinion is in no way altered." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "The landlord of the Alpha." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. never came back." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "What, then?" cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Oh, the cause is excellent!" the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "You don't mind breaking the law?" income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous voice, changing her seat as requested. man. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "You are all wrong." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said never to learn it at all." "'Where to?' me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the my little problems." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Then I do not see the point." I approached. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic wedding?" propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "I assure you that I am in your hands." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and wedding?" "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been did not hear it also.' that he has suffered." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my paper in the air. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. interests were the same as his." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no the bed, and you in that chair." this as likely?" "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. key of the affair now." "'And the work?' this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into helping a boy to put up the shutters. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "How about poison?" "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask six. Come in!" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "How did you deduce the select?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his she might be summoned. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Why, what do you mean?" of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls asked with his eyes open. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, you give your casting vote to?" might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "But what is it you wish?" that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "You horrify me." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Frequently." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "'Yes, sir.' Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an morning." would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and villagers almost as much as their master. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and just called myself is not exactly my own." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "Yes." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there way: to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "And I to find an enemy." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. reach." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his beg that you will break it off." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in colour had been driven from his face. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "'Stolen!' he cried. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more had picked up in the wood. and it need not interfere very much with one's other "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly,