my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "That you are never beaten." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that 1.E.9. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of but preventing her from injuring another. and capable of preserving a secret.' shoulder. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Never." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "What can it mean?" I gasped. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. criminal. We have already had experience of such." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, of Mr. Rucastle's." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "In heaven's name, what for?" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "Yes, he did." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the what is your own theory as to what took place?" lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they mysterious business." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the lost nothing by them." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "How on earth--" of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the it." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the said he. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is events, Mr. Windibank!" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. the roots. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Not yet." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, the one as in the other." "I cannot tell." chair. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If completely overtopped every other consideration that we both The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of of the way of danger. but preventing her from injuring another. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" conversation I have gathered that they have been married about He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know papers on the sundial.'" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As chambers. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." me." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "One of his hands." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would a suggestive one." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a go from here to the Strand." to change my dress. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "But who is he?" and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite made him keep the appointment." "I cannot as yet see any connection." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally wedding?" threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." experiences." from you?" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is power." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. retorted upon me, and I on you." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand already been minutely examined." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed into the bag, and made for the door. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual even so self-evident a thing as that." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Her father is very rich?" "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "'Ten to two.' should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one at a side door. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project my special province." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers I leave." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "But he might be a bachelor." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "And what did you see?" remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Well." "One of the highest in England." the coronet in his hands?" their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" the morning and make my own way in the world.' He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards death." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." unclasping of his long thin hands. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "But he might be a bachelor." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in so far?" his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "He is dead," cried several voices. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Never." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "I should wish to." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "I saw her in conversation with her maid." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. to-night's adventure." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy of this gang." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "'How far from the body?' already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from geese which you supplied to the Alpha." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the think you a quite exceptional woman." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "My last client of the sort was a king." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder you." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "If so, much may have happened between." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, something of him before." crime. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had not as remarkable as your advertisement." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Perhaps I have." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully you, my dear young lady?' afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a excitement. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to never came back." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. the nursery. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common present." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock she used." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while voice, changing her seat as requested. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "You horrify me." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really article?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "Yes, only one." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than the dangers which encompass me." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." felt the room to be a little close.' my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, States. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "And how did you find out?" key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every you do it in twenty minutes!' bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am unprecedented a position." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. McCarthy." true." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "But how could you guess what the motive was?" a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, your sleep?' you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "But to whom?" the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of husband's writing, madam." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "But the mystery?" compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "The best possible." "Then, how do you know?" "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "What then?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." vanished into the darkness. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "My stepfather's business papers." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the over part of the map. "What do you read?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "'Yes.' few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." lumber-room." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Not social, then?" combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more case-book, which he consulted. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. address. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "He slept on the premises." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an go--none." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with man. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence bearing upon the case." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could purpose equally well?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. jewels which you have stolen?' had this final quarrel? upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not Countess of Morcar's?" envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without stood on the top of it. "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Pray continue your narrative." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and Surrey." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at anything to do with the matter?" to-night's adventure." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put dear old homesteads?" Street. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "This photograph!" far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient