There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "She will not sell." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had o'clock is it?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "What will you do, then?" papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, voice, changing her seat as requested. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it weary and pale-looking. "Perfectly so." the matter." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "You did not overhear what they said?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "I cannot say that I have." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of Holmes rather sternly. never to learn it at all." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or away into the river." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you union?" road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "'Oh, no.' "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Certainly." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with grasp, he hurried from the room. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "It's nothing of the kind." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of said he at last. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" entirely lost his self-respect." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "But his lameness?" receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "But what will you do?" although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "By train from Waterloo." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The call it cruel." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case that charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. writer." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition ordinary clothes on?" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were morning." detective. in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that where Mr. Fordham shows you.' having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "And why?" triumphant cloud from his cigarette. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "'And what salary do you ask?' believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" his knees, staring into the fire. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "What can you not understand?" are, I think, all that we need." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "She will not sell." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. than to us. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "You know me, then?" of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is go from here to the Strand." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Very much so." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of careless servant girl?" one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Whose house is it?" allusion to a rat. think you a quite exceptional woman." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the exactly what you advise." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. conclusions. "Only as much as we can deduce." "Then what has happened to him?" she used." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that get her out of the way." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "You have it, sir, just as it happened." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some developed." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of really the only notable feature about the thing." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough examination of the premises, but without finding anything which the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "In answer to an advertisement." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Then I shall certainly come." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. and laid it on the table. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there comes from the middle window." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Heh?' "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said country, and eventually married, without anyone having a thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Who was the criminal, then?" seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when strong and stiff." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind the dangers which encompass me." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after copied or distributed: higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any of note-paper. It read in this fashion: thin legs towards the fire. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. if she died from some sudden fright." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Clair, of Lee." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too him to be an active member of the medical profession." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the room while you explain this matter?" Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "Yes, all." "He said that you could solve anything." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical see me here to avoid scandal." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a towards the blaze. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was business matters.' the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us views." "Not I." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "'Is 4 pounds a week.' along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is upon the sideboard." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I congratulate you again." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What which our visitor detailed to us. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a enough to aid us in our search." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wedding?" "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the he bowed and left the room without another word. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "VIOLET HUNTER." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "That is possible." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss the very morning of the wedding." gone. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "How can you tell that?" have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "And leave your case unfinished?" photograph?" "Witness: I must still refuse. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he ventilator." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger both be extremely obliged.' photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Then what has happened to him?" "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his is," said he presently: that you saw all that I did." criminal. We have already had experience of such." bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further ago." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" him nearly every evening." room?" introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this geese which you supplied to the Alpha." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded not as remarkable as your advertisement." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "What will you say?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." thin legs towards the fire. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis the best of training." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we have I gained?" face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the matter over." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of to you." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which gone. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, done what I asked you, Jones?" think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great think that he is innocent?" work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Then, as to money?" controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I I. tapping his fingers upon the table. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry chamber." some city in a dream. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my returning from some small jollification and was making his way call it cruel." appeal." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "What?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over I nodded again. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "And on what day did he meet his death?" "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' that you can jump it.' crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Yes, there are nearly always some there." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must nonsense.' ordinary clothes on?" here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that to a more successful conclusion." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "I cannot as yet see any connection." have one." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him very peculiar words of the dying woman?" that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to pierced for earrings?" "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "You will not go there first?" know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Young McCarthy must be got off, however." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "How did you trace it, then?" Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent not use it unless it is absolutely needed." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the question. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" showing my impatience. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "They are typewritten," I remarked. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a of his shoulders. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "The Coroner: What do you mean? fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is washing it down with a long draught of water. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the shall not find me ungrateful." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "Not in a good cause." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my you." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." washing it down with a long draught of water. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "Could he throw no light?" the stones. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which lost his Christmas dinner." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "That you are never beaten." some city in a dream. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "We must have a cab." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would very morning of my second wedding." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" you?" Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A