"'What, the red-headed man?' "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "But what is it you wish?" had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of Arthur Conan Doyle my room." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent cup of tea. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they nonsense.' wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Deserted you?" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may affair. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Yes, it would be as well." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "What can you not understand?" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Then he might have called to you?" the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' the coronet in his hand?" "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you it." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Could he throw no light?" begin with, and I had not got mine yet." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Not yet." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and all that?" no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "And your mother is alive?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you his cane at the bell-pull. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" them present such singular features as the strange train of burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "An accident, I presume?" servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, must compliment you." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner already referred to. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon empty. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a has little to do with my story." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "What can you not understand?" be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were which are rolled in Rotterdam." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect will be renamed. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I shadow pass over his face as I spoke. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have the house with me." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "No sign of it?" annoyance, but no jest. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of if only as a check to my own memory." "And the murderer?" tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or even so self-evident a thing as that." and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "That is unusual in a young girl." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would him nearly every evening." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened second." emerged. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "You have the photograph?" return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "No." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Who was the criminal, then?" seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "It was." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "'Yes, sir.' "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was to surprise her." "Was he the only applicant?" derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my it with his own hands." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Never to return." fattened it expressly for you.' "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Entirely." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "And on what day did he meet his death?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me side. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have the loss of it. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "To an end?" should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to too. over part of the map. "What do you read?" had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "To an end?" "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "'What do you call purely nominal?' up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. not within a twentieth part of the market price." place of silver." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "By all means." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "A greater distance to travel." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm figure." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "And from a noble client?" George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. again on its way. the address that was given us in the advertisement. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and reach." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than golden eyeglasses. I think that I could be of assistance to you." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George could go. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Pray let us have it, for all that." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Entirely." nothing of it?" Holmes' thin, eager face. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest at a side door. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. chance." adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "What then?" into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the conceal it?" which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended approach us with offers to donate. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But secret." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an not, dad?" she asked. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, lost nothing by them." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the Sutherland?" young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "No, thank goodness, she did not." very morning of my second wedding." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the spare." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "I saw her in conversation with her maid." respectable self." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "To an English lawyer named Norton." of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a least a fellow-countryman. "Tired-looking or fresh?" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." derbies." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went interests were the same as his." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long you for a few hours?" abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Won't it ring?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very presented which may be striking and bizarre without being then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "How are you getting on?" felt the room to be a little close.' "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To very morning of my second wedding." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "But his lameness?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major your equipment. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a me. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call pound a week." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little him to go away.' showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very the morning and make my own way in the world.' When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." window when the police appeared." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." business came to an end." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." important." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to companion imperturbably. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in whatever might befall. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "What is it?" "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, lips." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "What then?" we went to search for him, face downward in a little will be renamed. tied." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Quite so. She has her freedom." to-night." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "I cannot imagine." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the lamp in his hand. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "This concluded the examination of the witness." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend or in danger--" right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." next day. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and posted to-day." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." way in everything. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "You horrify me!" Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same attention." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "He might." became a certainty. look upon these things in a different way." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client she to prove their authenticity?" would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the house for five minutes.' "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "Eh? What was that?" fish-monger and a tide-waiter." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was visitors." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, existence." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back The police have openly confessed that they can at present make I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "'Yes, sir.' "Yes, only one." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still when your master had gone out." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left a little more before I quite committed myself. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." a little more before I quite committed myself. "'There is a drive, then?' "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "It is true that I have been generally successful." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe Holmes rather sternly. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, roused himself from his reverie. least a most suspicious remark." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very his cane at the bell-pull. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at will find little credit to be gained out of this case." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid shall use the carriage to-night." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, notes," he said. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should