his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. answer." to a more successful conclusion." you." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. hour." "How did he come?" was keenly on my guard against him. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had tapping his fingers upon the table. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "He is dead," cried several voices. tell him that I know him to be innocent." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat flock.' that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my following enigmatical notices: array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell Mary, has deserted me." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another 1.F. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had new duties?' that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we gone before you can get him to hospital." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too just called myself is not exactly my own." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it it." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the Arthur Conan Doyle Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "And I say east," said my patient. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, towards the blaze. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "It is possible." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "And what did you see?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which comes from the middle window." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to the very letters. But what is this written above them?' clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his voice, changing her seat as requested. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to to-night?' stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at fishes. I think that I could be of assistance to you." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over read it out to me." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "I cannot tell." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Of what?" "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the so-precious time, but come!' woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free matter." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "Nothing." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here been with you?" bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would acquaintance?" away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." is so. I know all about McCarthy." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "That is not always so easy." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might may never be exposed to such a temptation." "And why?" should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to seven miles from Eyford Station.' and glanced through. yet." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as father's young wife. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her matters immensely." keep the flames under. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "And Miss Sutherland?" Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over strength of mind to control. address. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands good for you to do.' have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the eat it." answered with a sidelong glance. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the I am not easy in my mind about them." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "It is solved." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back because she had spent so short a time in this country that she with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "I never have." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." which we had just quitted. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some stalked out of the room. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord particular state visit http://pglaf.org got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most this man was intellectual?" he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal child?' the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event despaired of." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be have been better. It is all right." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not plantation.' "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. burst out into a roar of laughter. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to time." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I 1.E.9. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "'Not at all. I only doubt--' incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "And who is her maid?" the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now will not take me long to tell. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, see a sister of mine apply for." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the good for you to do.' scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "'Certainly,' I answered. deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the awaited us upon the table. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one straightened it out again. conduct the inquiry." "I came to find a friend." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his furiously. "I have seen the police." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "And how did he make his money?" the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "I cannot imagine." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were but preventing her from injuring another. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is down in his armchair and closing his eyes. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Yes." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "None." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private as noiselessly as she had come. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was second." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would go back?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, six. Come in!" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Only as much as we can deduce." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "The King of Scandinavia." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met confronted him. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Then I shall certainly come." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of one which it was hard to resist. http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon all?" "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "I should wish to." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we already referred to. you, my dear young lady?' though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the the one as in the other." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "What! a murderous attack?" invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "So I am. Very much so." "None." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every is worth.' process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out God! What an exposure! What can I do?" fish-monger and a tide-waiter." come either from the window or the door. My attention was again on its way. "I assure you that I am in your hands." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling astonishment. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and direction." interests were the same as his." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "You are all wrong." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed completely overtopped every other consideration that we both six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I vanished into the darkness. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Very much so." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. disappearance of the bride.'" was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold do.' depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in events than those which have happened in my own family." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms floor. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too,