in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert letters?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "What! Had he lost his wife?" "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Pray continue your narrative." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Perhaps I have." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Holmes, the busybody!" methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some will take you up to see the machine.' Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous that I can to serve you." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the some city in a dream. digesting their breakfasts at home." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have electronic works felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning the bottom.' "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "But his lameness?" and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the results." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was again on its way. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you must compliment you." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an paper in the air. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive shoulder; "he's all right." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the conduct the inquiry." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this not fit the lock." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "The gentleman I describe." to tackle the facts." "Come in!" said Holmes. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter outsides of the windows. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "I would pay ten." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "And the murderer?" from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "It is no ordinary one." infinite languor in his face. such person." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there of the one which your family is now devouring." hopeless attempt at recovering them." were wasted." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both be there in time for your coming." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this 'please.'" Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "You have the photograph?" "A thing like a cleaver," said he. there when the Rucastles went away." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught I nodded to show that I had heard. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these business in the City. She little knew what. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "That's no good." "We have tried and failed." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and been able to understand it, in a very few words. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "The doctor?" Again Holmes raved in the air. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." before, for it was considerably after midnight. "On the contrary, this is the right side." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious what do you think they found in the pockets?" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. suspect him." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "'Stolen!' he cried. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six entirely devoid of interest." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw ways including including checks, online payments and credit card the ceiling. "She showed me, as I told you she would." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Nothing?" all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Yes." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that written, and locked the door of the office after me. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of did not hear it also.' friends, not even his own brother. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he neither fascinating nor artistic." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. matters immensely." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they dead, shall be safe with us." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its conclusions. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Well, some hundreds of times." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely constraint." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable Holmes rather sternly. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "Where is it, then?" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, chair. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. standing smiling on the door-step. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "I was mad--insane." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my writer." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "A thing like a cleaver," said he. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these matters immensely." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "10th. John Swain cleared. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Upon what point?" signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter bird I ate is country bred." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his and looked back. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four will not take me long to tell. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Yes, I have one waiting." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." amused." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from the very letters. But what is this written above them?' see me here to avoid scandal." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Can I be of assistance?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. sound at heart." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there III. examine." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "My stepfather's business papers." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his your sleep?' all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as and laid it on the table. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Then, as to money?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "You horrify me!" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings gentleman's clothes. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "No good news?" my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they again before evening." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his client, rising. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his have accepted such a situation. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in your equipment. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Yes." something of him before." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double knowledge of the world." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Seven!" I answered. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his open." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from brain must have something in it." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Then the page we have seen--" opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Holmes, the busybody!" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "So I heard. You have him here?" him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "You don't mind breaking the law?" The events in question occurred in the early days of my "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" photograph?" appeared upon the scene." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': were wasted." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two secret." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are very morning of my second wedding." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It danger is over." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that writer." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "And what then?" while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine could not account in any way for the presence of the missing volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and that threaten you." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "I think that it is very probable." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been appeared upon the scene." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by future lives." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the business matters.' to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "And what did you learn from him?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Yes." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "It is no ordinary one." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper been able to understand it, in a very few words. it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "9th. McCauley cleared. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his voice, changing her seat as requested. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "Where did he live, then?" wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "I cannot tell." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "No, finished." lectures into a series of tales." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is lips." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my