not within a twentieth part of the market price." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "And how in the world did you find them?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided people in all walks of life. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the noting anything else of interest. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Do you know him?" ashen face. followed. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK distinguish the words: the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to than to us. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "I should be immensely obliged to you." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "No." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged sufficient punishment." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "'About the same.' "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Doctor, of the paper and the date." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman use an arc-and-compass breastpin." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "My dear Holmes!" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the The note was undated, and without either signature or address. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "Always." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "I have a cab outside." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "And did you observe any change in her then?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness begin with, and I had not got mine yet." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was been deceived." Leadenhall Street--and--" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "And the cigar-holder?" this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "Your French gold?" moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could detective. "Get out!" said he. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your people in all walks of life. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly she to prove their authenticity?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he bonnet, and went out." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of tapping his fingers upon the table. clang of the bell. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Of what day?" re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Yes." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with your equipment. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "Yes, it would be as well." an introduction to him?" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced only touch the interest." hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, hereditary King of Bohemia." "He disappeared so suddenly." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically once more on the important position which you have been fortunate while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An nonsense.' completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, the stable lane now." "Where is it, then?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Surrey." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way is now desirous of getting those letters back." clanging. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies you." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in writing, and yet I know it well." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "Nothing?" "It surprised me." washing it down with a long draught of water. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "I should like to see him very much." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy frequently gained my first real insight into the character of vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Which are?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "How long did she speak to this Alice?" to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must room had already been engaged for us. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "What will you say?" know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other the coronet in his hand?" 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. bachelor.' who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "She walked into the breakfast-room." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "And who is her maid?" to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "My dear Holmes!" "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "And what did you learn from him?" chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "Yes. He waved his hands." third from London." "What can it mean?" I gasped. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "And on what day did he meet his death?" "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "How about poison?" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' plantation.' think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to second window is the one that I jumped from." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of himself. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "No?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a grasp, he hurried from the room. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and Literary Archive Foundation This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with if only as a check to my own memory." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and with some details as to your case." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." and all of them with the keenest interest. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without to Leatherhead. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "I should like to see him very much." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the prison!" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, this remarkable episode. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. married her." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken may never be exposed to such a temptation." gone. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "I should be immensely obliged to you." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was that threaten you." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had this poor creature." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt at once, for I have only half an hour." "I know where it is." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make enter into my head. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "You are certainly joking, Holmes." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' there has been an enclosure here!" deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "I shall most certainly do so." whether it answered to the description of any of their Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for dear old homesteads?" do you make of it all?" good for you to do.' wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." lamp in his hand. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in fuss that is made over them." "'Never.' used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in take the flies, but not before." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her redistribution. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would row." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At I. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not his huge brown hands. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, the bed, and you in that chair." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one thin, with a long, sharp nose?" in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, and a shock of very red hair. "But how?" screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, what is your own theory as to what took place?" "Nothing." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was The King stared at him in amazement. the loss of it. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You skylight. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. bears upon the case?" marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "My Mary? Impossible!" "And on what day did he meet his death?" a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, the child." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind out of this horrible affair." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the to surprise her." "So I am. Very much so." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I shag which I had seen upon the previous night. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Entirely." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be breakfast?" "I will not look." "But you were on a friendly footing?" "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "I am still in the dark." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about I. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the presume?" important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, use an arc-and-compass breastpin." rooms." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is evidence," I remarked. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project the iron safe, which he closed upon it. situation." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "No." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "It looks newer than the other things?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "And how?" the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say she used." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his an introduction to him?" left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are his eyes and forehead. Eyford." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious salesman. that there was nothing in it, after all." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of writing, and yet I know it well." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and