and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Where did he live, then?" already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to nothing with him." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "But how?" and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always nonsense.' "To an end?" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my in the hope of finding them." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "Witness: Nothing definite. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had ventilator." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there there was no need for father to know." you, my dear young lady?' "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our hair?' my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" II. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called morning." back to my heart. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I views." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Leave Paddington by the 11:15." new duties?' events, Mr. Windibank!" "Very truly yours, him and tried to hold him back. furiously. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the in his hands." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her about. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must him nearly every evening." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he enough to aid us in our search." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting colonel looking down at me. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "But she could not love him." in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of reach." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "He slept on the premises." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable showing my impatience. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from your Highness to the police-station?" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "He is still with you, I presume?" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he ordinary clothes on?" Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. feature." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he at my own good fortune. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend leave you to your papers for a little." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his said he. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small License. You must require such a user to return or Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. floor. particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "How often?" look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "How are you getting on?" overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "It came here." I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "And you can do nothing until then?" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about conclusions. with the outside air!" not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Murdered?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "That you are never beaten." "Nothing?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Do you receive much company?" he asked. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and characteristics, but those are the more obvious." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to yet." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. you." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest and prosperity to your house. Good-night." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper said he at last. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I all that?" down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab ventilator." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "I came to find a friend." it." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it look upon these things in a different way." Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself she to prove their authenticity?" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "On your arm?" dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "Yes." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt if I call to-morrow?" grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his shag which I had seen upon the previous night. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and carried out of court." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "And I to find an enemy." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Pray do so." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, troubles have been weighing upon his mind. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that could go. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land help us in this matter." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "No, finished." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time place, I think that there is good ground to think that the which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I But Holmes shook his head gravely. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But said he. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to you understand?" applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "I have come for advice." locked. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" me what he had done with the three missing stones. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it prisoner's face. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "But you can know nothing of this?" I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are arms and began to sob in a high treble key. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. the devil!" withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Dark enough and sinister enough." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "'Where could I find him?' slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. tear off another piece?' "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a purpose of examination. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, call for protection in the marriage market, for the present the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. held up the lantern and gazed about him. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to evidence," I remarked. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "What do you mean?" fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Could he throw no light?" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Witness: It was. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into 1.E.9. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Why, it's a dummy," said he. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she It was close upon four before the door opened, and a a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "But how could you guess what the motive was?" empty. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the certainly do as you advise." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself gone. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you telegram would bring me down to your help." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything to his chemical studies. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "None. Neville wrote those words." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Oh, yes, easily." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Who was the criminal, then?" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong certainly do as you advise." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to when your master had gone out." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" was used.' have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, deduce something from that?" "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. tail." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, it." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was we went to search for him, face downward in a little "I shall be delighted." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" he died? have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "I was certainly surprised to find you there." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day child?' indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our man. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Dr. Becher's." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt the King without delay." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many I was concerned in it." "None." or in danger--" his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "And your mother is alive?" scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of lips." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered man. I know him from the photograph." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Yes, all." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental again before evening." "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the closely." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." and I shall be with you presently." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "10th. John Swain cleared. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very what is your own theory as to what took place?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and