IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB I shall communicate with you." "How many? I don't know." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "At what time?" left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner yourselves in at night?" watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "It surprised me." three of the beryls in it, was missing. face and glided from the room. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a chance at all." cheerful." question. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his his fortune, and I went back to pa. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "The rest you will leave in our hands." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of vague figure huddled up in the darkness. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four derbies." in the hope of finding them." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "When did she vanish, then?" stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. do.' will not take me long to tell. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of wall." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "So I am. Very much so." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to one's self under obligations.' "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez quite distinctive." be best to do. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Well, it is a possible supposition." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something forbidden door. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a there." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey she slowly sank and died without having recovered her one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "How did you trace it, then?" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and cost them two and thirty pounds." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the details." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her dates and names. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "I would pay ten." served to weaken the effect. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can Eyford." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "Where to?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a father's young wife. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "And how in the world did you find them?" adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so The King stared at him in amazement. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "That is unusual in a young girl." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country habit of advancing money.' engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "If so, much may have happened between." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "The rest you will leave in our hands." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates brandy and water within his reach. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Breckinridge is his name." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to distance from the station, and there we found the young lady my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "But the mystery?" to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and with you?" Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated at once, for I have only half an hour." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Certainly." hurried away. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the general public were present, then?" "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my placed his cuttings. should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "No, I had a dozen." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "It goes to the housekeeper's room." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "Certainly." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "I am following you closely," I answered. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that bachelor.' came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Serpentine Avenue. wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses husband's writing, madam." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began pierced for earrings?" "No, my brougham is waiting." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness woman who has had her own way to make in the world. at a side door. answered with a sidelong glance. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and there." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all galvanised. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the during the last few years, and there are many noble families to papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Never to return." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, business at Coburg Square is serious." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Precisely so. But how--" character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its towards the blaze. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy over here." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the of a light. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "My photograph." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Then he might have called to you?" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "I will get her to show me." respectable self." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "None." weary and pale-looking. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to cigar and let me expound." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the loss of it. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to was a perfect sample of the class. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned yet." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a singular points about the case. What did the police think of the of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand ago." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were hereditary King of Bohemia." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of you want, then?' possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Yes." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. returned to France?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" this poor creature." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee digesting their breakfasts at home." waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "I am all attention, madam." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and my room." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Certainly." cigars in their mouths. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last delighted to hear it," he said. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a and that he would see to anything that turned up. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." there has been an enclosure here!" But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to had this final quarrel? "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father a good hundred miles off by now." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, Eyford at 11:15.' "We were both in the photograph." "Yes." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in page at http://pglaf.org "Then you may be so with me." in this note: not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "The Cedars?" "There are none." went to the Alpha were town bred." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "No, my brougham is waiting." sparkled upon his finger. "Why did you beat the pavement?" silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "Yes, certainly." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I do you make of it all?" with you?" him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? redistribution. this unhappy family?" "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation again." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "Precisely so. But how--" I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet cheerful." "In what way?" asked Holmes. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" to affect your life." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to me upon any point which I do not make clear." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us of it with the greatest attention. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "I was afraid that you were engaged." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which heavy and sharp instrument." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the records." "'I am sure if I had known--' it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Absolutely?" usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass returning from some small jollification and was making his way death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who one which it was hard to resist. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "By no means." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not tightly behind him. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must results." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, the one as in the other." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. hair?' "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Witness: Nothing definite. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "In answer to an advertisement." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence