unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. entirely devoid of interest." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a like that before?" "But his left-handedness." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "Yes, all." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend his knees, staring into the fire. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his comes from the middle window." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and forecastle of an emigrant ship. towards the blaze. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of mystery!" forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "I don't believe it." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." unprofitable." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it with you?" American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. foresight and the moral retrogression?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "10th. John Swain cleared. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more gone before you can get him to hospital." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in in your London, you will know that the office of the company is I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose dates and names. seen the man in the road." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. clanging. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will business." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in charged with?" dates and names. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the grasp, he hurried from the room. definite end. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you whole matter to your consideration." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "I should be immensely obliged to you." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "I promise," said Holmes. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the best of training." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at strong and stiff." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot about here speaks of his kindness to him." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "In the cells." put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough do.' "Yes?" see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. something of him before." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few the King without delay." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front best detective that ever lived. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "How do you know, then?" evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "I am following you closely," I answered. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "You are all wrong." the date of his supposed suicide." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "How many? I don't know." hard-headed British jury." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a all-comprehensive glances. "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have residence of the great financier. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a that you saw all that I did." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, roused himself from his reverie. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Was he the only applicant?" and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the your billet.' temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are that Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, this remarkable episode. it with his own hands." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, know all about it," he snarled. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a one of the states of the Union." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I then?" safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon This is what he says: constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I Arthur Conan Doyle "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the young Openshaw's." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "What then?" 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we respectable self." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain so.' I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known minor matters until to-morrow." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Ah!" the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of through." throat." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. IS covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Upon what point?" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to be.' passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss the running down." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Do you know him?" think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house case-book, which he consulted. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do secret." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot coroner's jury." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' several quiet little villages up there." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend open." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "And Irene Adler?" as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he hurried by. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "No, finished." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you in his hands." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "It certainly sounds feasible." all-comprehensive glances. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and come either from the window or the door. My attention was "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these know what is wrong with it.' but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled trifles." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Where, then?" ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, maiden herself was most instructive." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "I have a cab outside." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner and have this put in the evening papers." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing upon the sideboard." "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind her also." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "But we can't all be." cup of tea. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt questionable one." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had weigh very heavily upon my conscience." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. Munro.' had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us happened." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to your room." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key back to my heart. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the to his chemical studies. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg as he folded up the epistle. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "You know me, then?" rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set the devil!" Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, For additional contact information: "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort in his hands." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when as noiselessly as she had come. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Then, as to money?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your looking up at the numbers of the houses." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "Certainly." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "My dear Holmes!" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential companion. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any annoyance, but no jest. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to to his chemical studies. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "By all means." "I will try. What is it?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about desk. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Why, it's a dummy," said he. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. gone. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every sound at heart." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "She showed me, as I told you she would." we went to search for him, face downward in a little "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "It is very kind of you." more solid." "Where, then, is my wife?" and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Did you observe the colour?" chance at all." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be taking in every detail of the apartment. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in of Fenchurch Street." "I am to be neutral?" "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "My dear Holmes!" prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "None." "By train from Waterloo." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to