outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On works. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." to-night?" I asked. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." them?" "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess developed." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a rat could hardly pass through." dear old homesteads?" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but sofa. This way, please!" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Eh? What was that?" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed the coronet in his hands?" Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "About a month then." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "Dirty?" he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. colour had been driven from his face. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall good for you to do.' There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman companion. problems help me to do so." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be bare slabs of marble. "No, distinctly professional." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. spare." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. strength." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my matter." "My own seal." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "What then?" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Yes." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel is so. I know all about McCarthy." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "It goes to the housekeeper's room." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "How on earth--" in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "I think it very unlikely." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, The telegram which we eventually received came late one night about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from at once, for I have only half an hour." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. mystery!" thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a and looked back. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as success. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "But his lameness?" believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "And the cigar-holder?" "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Yesterday." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Frequently." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "And help." "I think it very unlikely." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Yesterday." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "That you are never beaten." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the strong and stiff." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Really! You surprise me." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "She walked into the breakfast-room." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "No." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all asked. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a absorbing." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Pray do so." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where to talk it over. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the promised to bring home. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "It's nothing of the kind." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "You will not go there first?" result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not have had none more fantastic than this." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls corner of the building. excitement. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." one of the states of the Union." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was have not had my rubber." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "She walked into the breakfast-room." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the certainly not very gracious." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two heavily into it. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted four million human beings all jostling each other within the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" bedroom door." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take right! Sit down and let us talk it over." the stones. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" your co-operation." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and eat it." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "'Yes, sir.' would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so him." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "'It is locked up,' I answered. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I of campaign. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own again on its way. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "You horrify me." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his himself. my special province." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "And you don't know his address?" "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic awkward doing business with an alias." "And why in hopes?" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, knowledge of the world." during which he might have communicated with his friend the Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk and the whole place is in a blaze." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "And what then?" is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been you, my dear young lady?' not come at once?" "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor she used." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Thank you. Pray proceed." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are photograph a cabinet?" slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! in this way: Dr. Gregory B. Newby the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. might have a private word with us. roused himself from his reverie. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "It is true that I have been generally successful." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "No, I am descending." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I developed." "I am sure." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. lectures into a series of tales." said Mr. Holder. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges my room." you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and you." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of forecastle of an emigrant ship. in my life." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. matters immensely." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "What is it, then--a fire?" "The King of Scandinavia." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight morning." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you imbecility!" he cried. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "I am all attention, madam." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "I am about to be married." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "What is it?" "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." any little problem which you may submit to me." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Not him." read it out to me." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I have established a very serious case against the son of the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have key turn in the lock." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that intrusion of other matters." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put come either from the window or the door. My attention was be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some highroad, where all traces were lost. British peeress.'" Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Sholtos." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was in him." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow one of them." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH the Assizes." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in business matters.' spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "I am sure." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was digesting their breakfasts at home." national property. I was determined that the law should have its cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do stammered. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "You have carte blanche." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than following enigmatical notices: England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small congratulate you again." Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "'I am sure that I do not know.' I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "Very truly yours, and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case in him." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. there!' "What then?" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said minor matters until to-morrow." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which My friend smiled. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from companion quietly. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall His name is Francis Prosper." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Certainly." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always searched, without anything being found which could incriminate his grey eyes. "And why in hopes?" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "How did he come?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens chance." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "And did you observe any change in her then?" little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "What do you mean?" twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting electronic works the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and yourselves in at night?" said he at last. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to in darkness. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "I saw her in conversation with her maid." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat