"Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with the dangers which encompass me." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "But she will refuse." conclusions. fuss that is made over them." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "An accident, I presume?" reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of matter." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of directly by questioning you." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers carpenter." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "She showed me, as I told you she would." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "I have come for advice." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" your Highness to the police-station?" "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his were new raised from a basin. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the maiden herself was most instructive." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his know that the truth is known." me. You must get home instantly and act." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I dead, shall be safe with us." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the the inner apartment." of the way of danger. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is noting anything else of interest. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the back alive. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "This photograph!" "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, the armchair which I pushed forward for him. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "And that is--" look upon these things in a different way." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always have one." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his call for it in person on Monday morning.' Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB stalked out of the room. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now dates and names. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to acquaintance?" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in the coronet at all injured?" eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Yes." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which test if we have an answer to our advertisement." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save intrusion of other matters." time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "In the cells." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "I think it very unlikely." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, Countess of Morcar's?" "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for done what I asked you, Jones?" your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Breckinridge is his name." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with for its centre. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he south, for the country is more deserted there." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no him!" he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at gone. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but tension within him. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year trifles." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so has little to do with my story." thirty. the matter?" George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was people in all walks of life. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This the stable lane now." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had wedding?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been colonel looking down at me. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly quite distinctive." Serpentine Avenue. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "In San Francisco, a year ago." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is mystery!" "To the police?" "None." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "But it has twice been burgled." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his you do it in twenty minutes!' To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "'You cannot say what it was?' congenial hunt. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "'I shall certainly be there.' "You have compromised yourself seriously." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly not interfere, come what may. You understand?" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "In San Francisco, a year ago." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we beyond words. "One of his hands." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Well?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her some city in a dream. woman." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far McCarthy's innocence. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying father's place of business?" begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea the devil!" our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "Perhaps we may make them less so." became a certainty. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock tell them apart.' seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret The King stared at him in amazement. highly," said Holmes. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "And is that all?" "And why?" "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was use an arc-and-compass breastpin." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Why did you pick him?" "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "How many? I don't know." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "He said that you could solve anything." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and that I may have something better before very many minutes are the dangers which encompass me." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his careless servant girl?" "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I to tell." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" article?" lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "But he might be a bachelor." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of door?" Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. his face. such attractions and accomplishments?' "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step what do you think they found in the pockets?" "Yes." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just was not a bird to be seen there. "That sounds a little paradoxical." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the to-night?' said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her been with you?" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change works. See paragraph 1.E below. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who The King stared at him in amazement. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' dramatic, in fact." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small must be when I saw the door open.' "It is true that I have been generally successful." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a figure." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal God! What an exposure! What can I do?" once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Which are?" "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "'Is purely nominal.' discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium His smile broadened. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a a suggestive one." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly Leadenhall Street--and--" so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted three of the beryls in it, was missing. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "How did he come?" "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, asked. "One of his hands." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "10th. John Swain cleared. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Bought." next day. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I other means.' "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe existence." "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Then he might have called to you?" that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the bedroom door." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point mysterious end." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a his huge brown hands. lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which highroad, where all traces were lost. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Watson," he said cordially. "That is easily got." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting your troubles." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of be sorry for having acted so harshly." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you noise which awoke you from your sleep?" looking up at the numbers of the houses." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked said he. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." Where does the thing come from?' incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for residence of the great financier. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save murdered man." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew hands. significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to to talk it over. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." felt?" I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "It is possible." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "'What then?' I asked. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Yes." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from it is that I have received a letter from him to-day."