"Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ see me here to avoid scandal." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is mysterious business." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Do you know him?" "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "But she will refuse." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "What are they?" were unconscious?" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, done what I asked you, Jones?" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he bore every mark of being an average commonplace British then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her the coronet at all injured?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any could not account in any way for the presence of the missing reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his returning from some small jollification and was making his way time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to past. forehead. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." in the hope of finding them." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "That is not always so easy." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched you." up this clue while it is still hot." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she stammered. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to from the brougham. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. the south-west, I see." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the nonsense.' fish-monger and a tide-waiter." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "But you can know nothing of this?" comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Perhaps I have." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "What then?" King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what held up the lantern and gazed about him. "You think that he is dead?" moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "You forget that I know nothing about it." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away suggested at once that there must be a communication between the half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing call for it in person on Monday morning.' "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That foresight and the moral retrogression?" leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the door?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. gigantic client. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and shaken than I had ever seen him. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and overpowering excitement and concern. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the for securing the situation." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I promised to bring home. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." that I may have something better before very many minutes are chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. should be so warm over such a trifle." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "At what time?" wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of evidence," I remarked. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "What!" he roared. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he asked. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, forebodings. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "None." it means?" its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." purpose equally well?" round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need trying to your nerves." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate recover the gem." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. which are rolled in Rotterdam." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up burst into a hearty fit of laughter. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor just ask you whether you had heard it.' dramatic, in fact." pressing in one house as in another. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Stolen, then." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. learned something! Where are the gems?" unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows wall." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his 'please.'" "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it strong and stiff." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions noise which awoke you from your sleep?" investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "And what did you see?" entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "What do you make of that, Watson?" to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Yes, all." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." said I. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to directors, with the result that you have seen." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with telegram would bring me down to your help." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very both be extremely obliged.' past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two it? Did I buy the geese off you?" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing business." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "Get out!" said he. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been from you?" other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over province." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small the King without delay." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other interested in these little problems, and since you are good pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up was a perfect sample of the class. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that them?" father's place of business?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "'Entirely.' surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "The Coroner: What do you mean? that you saw all that I did." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to lips." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of outbreak?" clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate I held the little printed slip to the light. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "'What are you doing there?' he asked. advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an depend upon my doing so.' Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at good-night and bustled off upon her way. that he has suffered." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in his cane at the bell-pull. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the him to be an active member of the medical profession." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "I was afraid that you were engaged." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "None." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, distinguish the words: Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the Chief Executive and Director have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off window when the police appeared." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, shoulder. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client wife's character?" to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is will he say when he returns?" colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "'Never.' in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "To an end?" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Was she in good spirits?" "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, about. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do call you and give you the chance." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. four million human beings all jostling each other within the beyond words. get the tickets." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his future lives." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said in this note: "So I am. Very much so." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came ashen face. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Stoke Moran." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes writer." anything to do with the matter?" first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he observed. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he the inquest, and which are worth considering." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found of." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "Eh? What was that?" voice. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, http://www.gutenberg.net foresight and the moral retrogression?" "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how go back?" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and key of the affair now." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not any." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other the nursery. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "You know me, then?" what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the you." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Yes." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Ah, but I was recommended to you." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now it." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we that Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "I came to find a friend." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "But what is it you wish?" Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing hour?' lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Countess of Morcar's?" Holmes." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "It came here." "What!" he roared. "Nothing?" registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He guilty one." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Yes, that is the Crown." you." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried fall down and do a faint right there before the altar."