matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our enough to aid us in our search." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A desk. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains writers could invent nothing more crude." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his His name is Francis Prosper." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he new duties?' down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see and all of them with the keenest interest. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what are, and they are waiting for us." the morning and make my own way in the world.' case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and be there in time for your coming." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your disappearance of the bride.'" coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "But his left-handedness." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" despair." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. you came in." "Why serious?" with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project door?" seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Here?" unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an place of silver." "My dear Holmes!" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "What, then, did Peterson do?" tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Stolen, then." derbies." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence must compliment you." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was the driver. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like returned to France?" and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I with you alone." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "I would pay ten." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old persecution?" The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "'Quite sure, dad.' who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Not in a good cause." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made deduce something from that?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "In which, sir?" "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he present strange and interesting features that it is no easy question. do.' slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my out of this horrible affair." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "But we can't all be." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My The summons was a brief and urgent one. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some right! Sit down and let us talk it over." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "By train from Waterloo." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." memory. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative good for you to do.' waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This there was no need for father to know." touch that coronet?' "Nothing." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his my friend's incisive reasoning. was lame." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Was your sister dressed?" sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let point in the dark hollow of his hand. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the second." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "If I can be of use." "It certainly sounds feasible." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest once more for Briony Lodge. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and and all of them with the keenest interest. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "She walked into the breakfast-room." noting anything else of interest. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might which our visitor detailed to us. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself his huge brown hands. events, Mr. Windibank!" opened the door, and slipped through. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster cup of tea. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told cup of tea. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Thank you. And your address?" the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, paper in the air. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "I would give my fortune to have them back." would then never go into court at all." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a This is what he says: self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily shall use the carriage to-night." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "And who is her maid?" such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears himself. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "I have a cab outside." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "Did you become engaged then?" be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "And why?" course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me trying to your nerves." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear weighed down with some great anxiety. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could forecastle of an emigrant ship. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "It was." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and despaired of." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "What then?" "Precisely so. But how--" those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my future lives." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question and shall probably return to London by the evening train." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each will take you up to see the machine.' to Leatherhead. arrested. You then--" you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Then how many are there?" of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was she used." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Yes, sir." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous humiliation." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in I nodded again. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to to a more successful conclusion." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present and capable of preserving a secret.' meant it for the best. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance the Assizes." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Married! When?" Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my straighten it?" "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird thought that she would have been so carried away." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "And what then?" one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so I nodded to show that I had heard. Pool. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Stolen, then." upon the white wrist. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Where, indeed?" "I cannot imagine." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "My private note-paper." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. directors, with the result that you have seen." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" that swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "And you thought he was pulled back?" is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." chair. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "Yes." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a less than 26s. 4d. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say presented more singular features than that which was associated There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed to-night?" I asked. "We were both in the photograph." too. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened London for the present?" "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party extraordinary contortions. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." your most interesting statement." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. appeal." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands horse could go." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "To the police?" is," said he presently: "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "How many? I don't know." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. way in everything. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though just called myself is not exactly my own." "But how?" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "You forget that I know nothing about it." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much over his head with a sweet womanly caress. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his them?" kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out washing it down with a long draught of water. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" disappearance of these gems?" The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge is," said he presently: cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes even of instruction." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It results." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. derbies." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "What will you do, then?" find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood vault. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. will take you up to see the machine.' at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' me. wanted for ourselves." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "Always." "How did you trace it, then?" first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." detained." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no