"You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." shoulder. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." morning." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just Again Holmes raved in the air. "My dear Holmes!" I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Dark enough and sinister enough." "'I am sure that I do not know.' naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "I say that I have solved it." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I will find little credit to be gained out of this case." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room straightened it out again. ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the intrusion of other matters." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "But it has twice been burgled." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Which are?" a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "A greater distance to travel." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To indeed which he could not unravel. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "In answer to an advertisement." "And I say east," said my patient. "But he might be a bachelor." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Well." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "In which, sir?" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses now. It seems that there had been some informality about their reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. beg that you will break it off." Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the of receipt of the work. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Dr. Gregory B. Newby "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately this unhappy family?" which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "That is it on the dressing-table." "And leave your case unfinished?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and Sutherland. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and him." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks laugh and put his lips to my ear. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "She walked into the breakfast-room." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a so far?" "Well, some hundreds of times." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" approach us with offers to donate. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that presume?" His smile broadened. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a Sutherland?" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Why did you beat the pavement?" until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to future lives." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "One of his hands." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He soul! here is her carriage at the door." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "No sign of it?" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "There are none." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "If I can be of use." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "In San Francisco, a year ago." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "Breckinridge is his name." standing smiling on the door-step. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed then?" blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "I see many objections to any such theory." pressing in one house as in another. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still this Miss Turner." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "'Entirely.' Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I happened." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously in a very precise fashion." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which point our research must commence, and we will begin it by instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." our word." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and until night should bring an explanation. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "My dear Holmes!" His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "I am about to be married." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot business." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "I think that I had better go, Holmes." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that carried out of court." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by spare." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had one's self under obligations.' Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "And for present expenses?" turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, even of instruction." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, nonsense.' better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Precisely so. But how--" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in fat-encircled eyes. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son client, rising. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "One of his hands." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for help us in this matter." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." hard-headed British jury." chamber." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this question," said Holmes, smiling. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed Countess of Morcar's?" governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "And how did you find out?" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "At the wedding breakfast." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "Where, indeed?" the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is brandy and water within his reach. that?' "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which indeed which he could not unravel. 1.E.9. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "Were they all fastened this morning?" "The decline of his fortunes, then?" mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly matter." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I very peculiar words of the dying woman?" the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, Young McCarthy must be got off, however." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his troubles have been weighing upon his mind. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "I am sure." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "I should be immensely obliged to you." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Have you it here?" drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. hour?' "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "The vanishing of the lady." "Where is it, then?" "At the wedding breakfast." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "But you have hopes?" put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich woven round him. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the answered with a sidelong glance. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Perfectly so." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Did he not advertise?" uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he even so self-evident a thing as that." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised again, where I was soon asleep. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have to a more successful conclusion." learned something! Where are the gems?" Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, some city in a dream. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "I answered that I had not. fluttered off among the others. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any happened." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored grasp, he hurried from the room. absorbing." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "You horrify me." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "You don't mind breaking the law?" "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My bonnet, and went out." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock brandy and water within his reach. conduct the inquiry." the dangers which encompass me." knowledge of the world." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be hair?' opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "'Then let me do so?' He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the are, I think, all that we need." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did