next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, individual and becomes the badge of a society." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the You want to know what became of those geese?" all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "One of his hands." father's young wife. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some ways of our fellow-men." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I prove to be little relation between the different incidents of to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a forebodings. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary empty. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. look upon these things in a different way." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival newspaper selections." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "Frequently." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "And how in the world did you find them?" me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive gentleman's clothes. "And what did you learn from him?" to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of *** START: FULL LICENSE *** receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your 11:15.' 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled what is your own theory as to what took place?" writers could invent nothing more crude." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the down. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my over with notes and figures. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I when your master had gone out." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, sentimental considerations in the background which would induce step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small your equipment. the window, rose as we entered. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." acted in my house last night?" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his passage and a tap at the door. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Not particularly." constraint." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I already been minutely examined." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old felt the room to be a little close.' Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost appointment with me for six o'clock?" ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "'Yes, sir.' impression behind it as though a window had gently closed passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "No." daring than any effort of the imagination." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from neither fascinating nor artistic." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "That also I could fathom." light and attacked it." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and particular state visit http://pglaf.org particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the of the way of danger. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "In answer to an advertisement." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" that he will be back before evening." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an the coroner come to?" one or two very singular points about this room. For example, on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted arrangements." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." entirely lost his self-respect." cigars in the box." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "It is very clear." hour?' offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still with some details as to your case." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, best detective that ever lived. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the these bleak autumnal evenings." "You don't mind breaking the law?" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental always that they were such commands as a lady might with however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, coroner's jury." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock chambers. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our other lovers by making love himself." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice will he say when he returns?" human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like lips." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "I have a cab outside." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "You are hungry," I remarked. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really from you?" "Yes, that is the Crown." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "One of his hands." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the heavily into it. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "The decline of his fortunes, then?" Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of cheerful." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." the morning and make my own way in the world.' "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "At half-wages, in fact." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his possible that we could bring him back to her? however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's occurred." "And Miss Sutherland?" Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke hopeless attempt at recovering them." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy observed. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of will take you up to see the machine.' give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the asked. if I call to-morrow?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter woven round him. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." in the dead of the night?' Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of Holmes rather sternly. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "My stepfather's business papers." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any sofa. This way, please!" are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at points to suicide?" whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it your own bird, so if you wish--" Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the outsides of the windows. golden eyeglasses. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than placed his cuttings. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather The telegram which we eventually received came late one night Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Holmes, the busybody!" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the the Friday. Was it to be in church?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, seven miles from Eyford Station.' the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of read over the extraordinary announcement. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door tell him that I know him to be innocent." "One?" and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "But she could not love him." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so John Swain, of St. Augustine. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "No, my brougham is waiting." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had other means.' there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "How many? I don't know." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was said he. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "I am in hopes that she does." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "I warn you that they are very incomplete." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "What is it, then--a fire?" "'Which dealer's?' learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." himself to tell his story. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my the child." photograph?" "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's trifles." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The writers could invent nothing more crude." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he to tell." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Yes, that is the Crown." skylight. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed question," said Holmes, smiling. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my which was all perfectly true. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a his face. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "But he might be a bachelor." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a have an American origin." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "But I am all in the dark." where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Why, what do you mean?" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I cannot tell." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my memory. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Could he throw no light?" business came to an end." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Not in a good cause." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "And I." his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "By no means." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Really! You surprise me." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for go--none." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police bed dies. Does not that strike you?" to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. who was a member of your goose club." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him the inner apartment." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Count Von Kramm." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the them present such singular features as the strange train of guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as during which he might have communicated with his friend the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, conclusions.