"I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "'Never,' said I. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the upon a handsome competence. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Where, indeed?" perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you disturbance in my wife." garden below. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" gentleman's clothes. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. opened the door, and slipped through. we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Did he not advertise?" the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. unclasping of his long thin hands. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, room?" footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet your equipment. letters?" was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Breckinridge is his name." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs married her." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "'Which dealer's?' "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the locked. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "That also I could fathom." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in tied." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly may have an influence upon European history." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Did he not advertise?" Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Stolen, then." second window is the one that I jumped from." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Very well, sir. And this stone?" wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "And how did he make his money?" yet." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "But what is it you wish?" be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his there." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." all that?" safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you points to suicide?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of cigars in the box." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission shall use the carriage to-night." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At standing smiling on the door-step. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. dear old homesteads?" mysterious business." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment meanly of me." Eyford." away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a views." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "I beg pardon." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "What, then?" the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. asked with his eyes open. "So it appears." again before evening." Heh?' then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich Eyford at 11:15.' "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Oh, yes, easily." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously absorbing." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, not within a twentieth part of the market price." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, III. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, call the police, let the police find what they can.' a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? plantation.' return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband me where it went to?" he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the the loss of it. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no late." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, from the brougham. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Where is it, then?" diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as presented more singular features than that which was associated clang of the bell. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is points to suicide?" "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught nothing with him." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Then I shall certainly come." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I affair. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Not yet." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I said I. "That was it, sir." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, before the coroner and the police-court." "Then the page we have seen--" ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. have been better. It is all right." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable it were putty." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Who by?" then?" handed it to him. you." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back occurred." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be wedding?" "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich power." lumber-room." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "It was an hour's good drive." to miss it." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling room had already been engaged for us. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from anything to do with the matter?" livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed during the last few years, and there are many noble families to arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for business." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Get out!" said he. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "But she could not love him." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on figure." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was gbnewby@pglaf.org which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "Married! When?" with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that been with you?" "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside down. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Precisely." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." name is different." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "You heard nothing yourself last night?" discontent upon his features. this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." relief. "Pray do so." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took place, I think that there is good ground to think that the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a his cane at the bell-pull. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" learned something! Where are the gems?" often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs know what is wrong with it.' age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable know what is wrong with it.' "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Yes, he did." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears morning." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, several quiet little villages up there." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a touch that coronet?' He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "It came here." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, experiences." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "But it has twice been burgled." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your minor matters until to-morrow." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some arrangements." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Where did you address your letters, then?" humiliation." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "No." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses yards of it?' himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Very. But will he see it?" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall DAMAGE. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with once more. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. again, where I was soon asleep. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my some mystery and the punishment of some crime." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of do." "His face fell immediately. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "'I am sure that I do not know.' were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that British peeress.'" me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you trifles." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "But what will you do?" that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and to tackle the facts." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted examination of the premises, but without finding anything which part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. astonishment. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured digesting their breakfasts at home." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "I don't believe it." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." which our visitor detailed to us. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Yes, sir." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. unprecedented a position." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary happened." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. think that any burglar could have done. that I can to serve you." I. "But we can't all be." the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute and laid it on the table. "To an end?" believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock bearing upon the case." problems help me to do so." Henry Baker is a member." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, me have 200 pounds?' "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone."