together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "Very murderous indeed." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an matter." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders questionable one." "It is very kind of you." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was at once, for I have only half an hour." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "I promise," said Holmes. "Yes, only one." the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "What, then?" had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "In heaven's name, what for?" "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "You did not overhear what they said?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Serpentine Avenue. constraint." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, locked. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called formed some opinion?" qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "What?" association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "I do." was lame." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of foot. "'It is locked up,' I answered. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, bled considerably." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB me. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Well." room had already been engaged for us. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they disappearance of these gems?" was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project assist you in forming an opinion." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward woven round him. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they look dissatisfied." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated be.' "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. man. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. investigation." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs on in his house." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I you found me to-night--and running through the front room she overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." there in twenty minutes." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "And how did you find out?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "I am sure." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill to miss it." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from shaken than I had ever seen him. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about secret." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "Where did he live, then?" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been geese which you supplied to the Alpha." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. recover the gem." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." client, rising. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained a little more before I quite committed myself. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no was used.' or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "And how have you succeeded?" "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, mysterious end." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest when your master had gone out." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "I promise," said Holmes. It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Yes, the wine-cellar." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question and wait." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the not, dad?" she asked. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "May I see it?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "I am all attention, madam." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry murdered man." that he will be back before evening." voice. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." business." Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help thought that she would have been so carried away." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the and capable of preserving a secret.' him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be footfalls from the street. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Where, then, is my wife?" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE relief. "Imitated." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR sneer upon his pale face. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his when your master had gone out." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. his grey eyes. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "It came here." results." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' system of imprisonment?" "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "None." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time miles off. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is locked. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "Yes, but only for you and me." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the general public were present, then?" the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not again on its way. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from again, where I was soon asleep. may have an influence upon European history." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just some mystery and the punishment of some crime." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "Bought." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Where, indeed?" and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" salesman. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and problems help me to do so." "What are they?" to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and in a very precise fashion." "'Then let me do so?' "I promise," said Holmes. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "How many? I don't know." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "'What do you call purely nominal?' afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight do.' pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but kind enough to tell me what I should do." sake, don't!" papers must be those that are destroyed.' Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "From his hat?" introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "You have a clue?" "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms purpose of examination. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was absolutely follow my advice in every respect." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. seven miles from Eyford Station.' License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, ceremony." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You to his chemical studies. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic Holmes." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." which was all perfectly true. outbreak?" gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and not personally threatened." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "Pray do so." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Absolutely?" Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "He is dead," cried several voices. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "BALLARAT." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Leave Paddington by the 11:15." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "How long did she speak to this Alice?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "And your mother is alive?" the driver. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "'Is 4 pounds a week.' scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this bed dies. Does not that strike you?" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included made him keep the appointment." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, waste of energy." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "I should wish to." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men;