banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with directors, with the result that you have seen." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly Holmes." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try neither fascinating nor artistic." out of this horrible affair." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would noting anything else of interest. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she stalked out of the room. "Stolen, then." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "Always." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. other lovers by making love himself." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the I nodded again. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "What do you mean?" "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and visitors." as he folded up the epistle. hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid knowledge of the world." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day sentimental considerations in the background which would induce for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that might help us?" "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." Have you good authority for what you say?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the the iron safe, which he closed upon it. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might must compliment you." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "But your client--" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the unprecedented a position." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "I was sure that I might rely on you." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this despair." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, if only as a check to my own memory." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went Gutenberg-tm License. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "'Never,' said I. for securing the situation." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the him!" sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "'Where to?' you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "'And the work?' "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "'Very good.' young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, round with crates and massive boxes. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but have accepted such a situation. not within a twentieth part of the market price." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of he. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this think you a quite exceptional woman." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you to some other building. "And from a noble client?" nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not the inner apartment." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite not, dad?" she asked. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began that you saw all that I did." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; were unconscious?" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his and it need not interfere very much with one's other note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly then?" week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a furiously. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had habit of advancing money.' better grown goose." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "Then how many are there?" pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "No, finished." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint promised to bring home. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "My dear Holmes!" main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but has little to do with my story." trifles." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Yes." before, for it was considerably after midnight. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, there." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried business came to an end." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, detained." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few there when the Rucastles went away." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know the Red-headed League." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "Precisely." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "It came here." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the date of his supposed suicide." "I have my revolver," said I. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of room had already been engaged for us. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had I shall communicate with you." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as Sutherland?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose States. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "She walked into the breakfast-room." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner seem to you to be relevant or not." at my own good fortune. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William It may be so in this case, also." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "But the mystery?" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "No, but the enclosure is." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting lamp. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight more terrible than the truth. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "ARAT," I read. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to was a perfect sample of the class. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "'Yes, it was gone.' someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, shall not find me ungrateful." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to dear old homesteads?" eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she existence." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "I have my revolver," said I. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads said I. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in this remarkable episode. Again Holmes raved in the air. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would I approached. should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "That also I could fathom." and your relations to her." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "'Never.' "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for until night should bring an explanation. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, in this way: "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of I. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have three of the beryls in it, was missing. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "My Mary? Impossible!" "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest tightly behind him. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is get the tickets." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB business." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." straightened it out again. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly address. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "I am armed." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is closely." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary night.' said he. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we should be taken.' so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Precisely." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, II. newspaper selections." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Look there!" said he. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite go back?" constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with bird I ate is country bred." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when McCarthy." compunction about shooting them down." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of shoulder; "he's all right." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either events than those which have happened in my own family." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call shall not find me ungrateful." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. opportunities to fix the problem. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Dr. Becher's." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "It certainly sounds feasible." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "VIOLET HUNTER." morning." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed from you?" I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, page at http://pglaf.org good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "Really! You surprise me." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the meant it for the best. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat existence." made him keep the appointment." "I cannot tell." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "I say that I have solved it." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Absolutely none." any." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "No. His orders were to stay in the house." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said in the port of London." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "What are they?" "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I to some other building. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers interest. They are important, you understand, without being This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was impression behind it as though a window had gently closed