When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Won't it ring?" I was concerned in it." convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly only touch the interest." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Where, then, is my wife?" little adventures." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, tear off another piece?' "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, as this. Pray let me have the details." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he them, and came down just as you departed. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Then I shall certainly come." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case about. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of child?' Gutenberg-tm License. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. and the colonel ushered me in. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you examine." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "It is very kind of you." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "'Ample.' metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of see a sister of mine apply for." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical the armchair which I pushed forward for him. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' daring than any effort of the imagination." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed silent! Oh, he will be silent!' secret." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "On Monday." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter said I. "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were Holmes' room. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and your billet.' I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until Where does the thing come from?' never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "'Entirely.' bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "He might." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see words came to my lips. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Arthur Conan Doyle run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In the ceiling. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "To ruin me." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a in this note: fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small was once confined in the cab my mission was practically the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "10th. John Swain cleared. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "I am armed." "No. What a strange idea!" in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or conclusions. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "And now?" He raised his hand. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face article?" cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Holmes, the busybody!" "He is still with you, I presume?" "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' have established a very serious case against the son of the her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a nonsense.' business." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a plantation.' the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "'Entirely.' occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. and glanced through. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "What do you make of that, Watson?" main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "I think it very unlikely." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "'Tell me all about it,' said I. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "I cannot imagine." meant." seven miles from Eyford Station.' heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a sentimental considerations in the background which would induce bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "It is true that I have been generally successful." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which nights." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the redistribution. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts been anything against him. He had for years been known as a really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "No. What a strange idea!" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "'Ten to two.' reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" success. investigation." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, of note-paper. It read in this fashion: pound a week." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am will take you up to see the machine.' he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all client, rising. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the main points of my analysis." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a arrested. You then--" fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "But how?" "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and round and wave him away like that.' Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white stood on the top of it. nonsense.' I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "Of Friday, June 19th." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I I nodded again. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power when your master had gone out." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from very morning of my second wedding." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, again on its way. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "And I." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Precisely so. But how--" "No." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "But his lameness?" old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and hour?' call for it in person on Monday morning.' yet." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "And that is--" girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "'Yes, it was gone.' of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations possible that we could bring him back to her? "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her possible that we could bring him back to her? or other trace. But how on earth--" too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each strength in the others." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the that you saw all that I did." of campaign. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "No bad?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon waste of energy." this poor creature." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "And who is her maid?" laugh and put his lips to my ear. between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a nice household for a young lady." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you get the tickets." to arrive at through this?" handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he manager. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "I was certainly surprised to find you there." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty seven miles from Eyford Station.' near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Nothing." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your to me. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set is a common subject for conversation. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry house for five minutes.' Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "Yes." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one manager. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the do.' feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, handed it to him. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "You are all wrong." ceremony." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a may never be exposed to such a temptation." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" that I can to serve you." quickly through a disagreeable task. situation." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "That is easily got." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, is a common subject for conversation. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. article?" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' that I am arrested." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "And the cigar-holder?" second." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that what is your own theory as to what took place?" LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter John Swain, of St. Augustine. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there second window is the one that I jumped from." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was Chief Executive and Director quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do with her." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "About a month then." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came his grey eyes. he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not the very morning of the wedding." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. friends, not even his own brother. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Yes." Sutherland?" "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship invisible to me," I remarked. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of round and wave him away like that.' fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Perfectly so." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the could not have written that. It is the German who is so The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Yes. He waved his hands." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the locked. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a business in the City. She little knew what. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my it with his own hands." to-night?' "VIOLET HUNTER." green of the new foliage. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak."