dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid mystery may be cleared along those lines." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute are windows in it, of course?" same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Why, what do you mean?" servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And generous with you in money matters.' and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune writing, and yet I know it well." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it washing it down with a long draught of water. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "And why in hopes?" in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and morning." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous started for the Temple to see my husband. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent I shall continue with my miserable story. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." here and I will read it to you: even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "Not I." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age do.' gigantic client. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out interests were the same as his." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Quite so." Edgeware Road. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of seem to you to be relevant or not." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, singular points about the case. What did the police think of the British peeress.'" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "And for present expenses?" evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Yesterday." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Your sister is dead, then?" in this note: why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well face and glided from the room. forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "An accident, I presume?" friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since weigh very heavily upon my conscience." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "'You cannot say what it was?' photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a indiscretion." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, your co-operation." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "She told me to ask you." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "'What do you call purely nominal?' joking. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the that you saw all that I did." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "How do you know, then?" "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "Never." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily redistribution. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter girl said." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, were wasted." Lee, in the county of Kent." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the that, and I came down." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my suddenly upon us." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the is now desirous of getting those letters back." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Yes." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "But how?" a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "I have seen the police." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign your billet.' to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat goes." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Which surely he restored to their owner?" for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "What of the rat, then?" of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was You want to know what became of those geese?" dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger again, where I was soon asleep. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short friends, not even his own brother. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the gives a meaning to it." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "The vanishing of the lady." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss The events in question occurred in the early days of my "My opinion is in no way altered." "And the cigar-holder?" "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the stalked out of the room. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his do.' "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been narrative." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." awaited us upon the table. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his the coroner come to?" tightly behind him. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "He is still with you, I presume?" Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, night.' said he. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Then the page we have seen--" "What! a murderous attack?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just matter." upon the sideboard." house for five minutes.' vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will be best to do. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed that, and I came down." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son very old mansion. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that province." "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," a very grave face. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every to his chemical studies. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "What!" he roared. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "She will not sell." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the your most interesting statement." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "But his left-handedness." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed important." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; mystery!" Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "An enemy?" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "My last client of the sort was a king." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in been shamefully used." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. is now desirous of getting those letters back." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "It missed him, then?" band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I your own bird, so if you wish--" wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "Did you observe the colour?" I shall continue with my miserable story. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed giving me time to thank him. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague within hail.' "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your just called myself is not exactly my own." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "I cannot think." companion quietly. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations leaning back in his chair. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even absorbing." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "And you can do nothing until then?" don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lost his Christmas dinner." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "Not I." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where signal between you and your father? leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side in his power. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "My own seal." you." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with to change my dress. laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. manager. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Absolutely?" short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, himself in a perplexing position. undoubtedly my uncle's." "'Ten to two.' "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend brandy and water within his reach. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country with you alone." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his brain must have something in it." least a fellow-countryman. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing certainly do as you advise." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" appeal." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept promised to bring home. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our three fields round his house, and there he would take his down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real that he has suffered." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "'What, the red-headed man?' "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of writer." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "I fear not." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between forebodings. less than 26s. 4d. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural that he has suffered." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in DAMAGE. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we place of silver." "'Where to?' Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger only touch the interest." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by papers must be those that are destroyed.' in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still whereabouts. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "Can I be of assistance?" appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out woven round him. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, and glanced through. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "I am to be neutral?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my Sutherland?" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand one of the states of the Union." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you works. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was her also." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a Pope's Court, Fleet Street." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "'What do you call purely nominal?' during that time.' "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "How about poison?" re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy hair?' cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "On your arm?" "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I more terrible than the truth. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit companion. that the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to to-morrow." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't stood on the top of it. October 9, 1890. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. village inn over there?" "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at