dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Perfectly so." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for chambers. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "Has he come with you to-night?" glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, ordinary clothes on?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Pope's Court. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all nonsense.' walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than this truth that in these little records of our cases which you locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal as this. Pray let me have the details." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" the bottom.' "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the brought there to personate someone, and the real person is doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. notes," he said. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the words came to my lips. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. it means?" her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage front of the hall door has given its name to the place. unprecedented a position." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the heavily into it. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "You horrify me!" did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even it." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something said I. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found along the entire front of the house, with three long windows some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as existence." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in flock.' farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Yes." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down wall." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then present." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, the salesman. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, his fortune, and I went back to pa. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we the matter?" still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. entirely devoid of interest." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Will you go?" "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing are windows in it, of course?" "It is very kind of you." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, him to go away.' Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that miles off. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Yes, that is the Crown." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined infinite languor in his face. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." me upon any point which I do not make clear." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been morning." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "I should like to see him very much." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his Farm upon the left." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves for the market.' Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open papers on the sundial.'" rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Pray do so." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "It may not come to that," said Holmes. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "I think that it is very probable." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the the so-precious time, but come!' seem to you to be relevant or not." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "I never have." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up Arthur Conan Doyle "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good soul! here is her carriage at the door." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Yes." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither memory. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the felt the room to be a little close.' "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "By train from Waterloo." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your observed. hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "It must be recovered." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without reach." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot their singular warning or token before them when starting upon story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been gbnewby@pglaf.org "On Monday." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! instincts rose up against that laugh. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There note?" burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant London for the present?" points to suicide?" The police have openly confessed that they can at present make My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon the stones. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and which should have the effect of calling the attention of the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "My dear Holmes!" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight the general public were present, then?" "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Yesterday." Chief Executive and Director my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner have established a very serious case against the son of the such person." have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been someone who had been in Australia." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the went to the Alpha were town bred." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "The doctor?" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and think you a quite exceptional woman." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The the side-table." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "Your presence might be invaluable." depend upon your compliance." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice true." respectable self." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle as this. Pray let me have the details." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. appeared upon the scene." do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was Have you good authority for what you say?" voice, changing her seat as requested. "And the murderer?" to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "About a month then." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." noble correspondent could be. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "10th. John Swain cleared. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is breakfast and whispered something to her husband. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four hour." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my father's young wife. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and that?' were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "No more words. Get out!" secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and intimate personal affairs in this public manner." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The careless servant girl?" sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "Frequently." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few foresight and the moral retrogression?" be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "And leave your case unfinished?" he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. formed some opinion?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "'Which dealer's?' that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that conceal it?" better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would secret." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily question you as to those details which seem to me to be most believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Certainly." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know was not a bird to be seen there. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "I guessed as much." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was once more on the important position which you have been fortunate instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Project Gutenberg-tm works. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, any little problem which you may submit to me." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six think you a quite exceptional woman." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. room. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, Stoke Moran." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "In what way?" asked Holmes. the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from certainly not very gracious." article?" those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their in my life." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that investigation." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of must be when I saw the door open.' however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing you." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the from the brougham. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just feature." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will the little opening for the ventilator is." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the date of his supposed suicide." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual advice." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who unclasping of his long thin hands. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he begun to whiten, even as mine has." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go money should be paid at once.' you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you society." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, have I gained?" to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this leave you to your papers for a little." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "'A dozen yards or so.' Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, think you a quite exceptional woman." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "I am about to be married." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Then I am your man." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, the one as in the other." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one