sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "Why? What do you mean?" Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature them present such singular features as the strange train of We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "I shall be delighted." "But how did you gain them?" is entirely a question of barometric pressure." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business is entirely a question of barometric pressure." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite colour had been driven from his face. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about it." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems matters immensely." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "10th. John Swain cleared. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Dr. Becher's." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "You forget that I know nothing about it." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Did your wife hear all this?" better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. Project Gutenberg-tm works. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, mystery!" chamber." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Why did you pick him?" "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven not personally threatened." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be sound at heart." to his chemical studies. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, clang of the bell. money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in other, as fresh and trim as possible. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about power." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "But what harm can there be in that?" "I have my revolver," said I. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned woman who has had her own way to make in the world. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a their singular warning or token before them when starting upon that there was nothing in it, after all." towards the blaze. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "That is easily got." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote the salesman. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Holmes, the busybody!" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Yes, I have one waiting." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles suddenly upon us." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "That is unusual in a young girl." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "Entirely." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler arms and began to sob in a high treble key. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes business?" the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "What steps will you take?" I asked. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "No, my brougham is waiting." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "I am following you closely," I answered. one of them." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have country, and eventually married, without anyone having a before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." upon an income of about 60 pounds." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Will you go?" "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is charge against him will break down." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came fait accompli?" the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. him, that man would not have given me such complete information shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Nothing." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I people in all walks of life. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they ways including including checks, online payments and credit card their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a into the bag, and made for the door. should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest is now desirous of getting those letters back." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, washing it down with a long draught of water. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, are, and they are waiting for us." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "The King of Scandinavia." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "She told me to ask you." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman whatever might befall. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' it were putty." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very the inquest, and which are worth considering." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From article?" the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found business." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his ways of our fellow-men." Heh?' "In the cells." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "And it is--" road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it used to be." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, bonnet, and went out." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." and your relations to her." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, upon a handsome competence. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. you?" nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. waste of energy." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers get her out of the way." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes indiscretion." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. criminal. We have already had experience of such." the driver. door?" inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the of this gang." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Then what has happened to him?" so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more sit on the left-hand side of the driver." http://www.gutenberg.net was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us the driver. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his Count Von Kramm." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the digesting their breakfasts at home." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be corner of the building. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's *** START: FULL LICENSE *** abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, speckled band?" days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and it." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of already been minutely examined." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." once more to my work. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "And now?" I asked. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you and inquire as to the address." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Then the page we have seen--" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "And what did you see?" forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "What do you mean?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began wall." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to sound at heart." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "That is not always so easy." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Which are?" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white followed. "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was you came in." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with one which it was hard to resist. "What, then?" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining father's place of business?" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood investigation." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You fled together." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all and the church but not where the lady lived." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young affection." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being searched, without anything being found which could incriminate enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if