the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "Yes, certainly." out." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that until night should bring an explanation. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "What, then?" what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking money should be paid at once.' we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of pierced for earrings?" "The best possible." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be window when the police appeared." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but chill to my heart. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of daring than any effort of the imagination." cigars in their mouths. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Well, it is a possible supposition." heavily into it. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He were new raised from a basin. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest strode off upon his way. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of fattened it expressly for you.' "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she there in twenty minutes." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, of this gang." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "The King of Scandinavia." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "That sounds a little paradoxical." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs always that they were such commands as a lady might with for the market.' this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain and I shall be with you presently." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly than was visible to me." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of the stones. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if the one as in the other." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "It is to him that this trophy belongs." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." bled considerably." me. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one she slowly sank and died without having recovered her slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, stood on the top of it. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "Perfectly so." any." placed his cuttings. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "I am sure." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "Why? What do you mean?" other lovers by making love himself." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four could go. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in father's young wife. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the direction." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would nonsense.' time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at which should have the effect of calling the attention of the It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with fait accompli?" so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do second window is the one that I jumped from." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. desk. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom fled together." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "It is no ordinary one." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a enough to aid us in our search." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of village inn over there?" the salesman. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Who was the criminal, then?" "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." know what is wrong with it.' "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of were unconscious?" fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in power." if she died from some sudden fright." of them has the shutters up.' and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "So I have heard." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and woman who has had her own way to make in the world. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Yes, it would be as well." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a likely to be some crony of the landlady's." me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, retorted upon me, and I on you." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "The Cedars?" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a frequently gained my first real insight into the character of wall." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always man. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his the child." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting His smile broadened. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from your Highness to the police-station?" sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are you found me to-night--and running through the front room she about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps directly by questioning you." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with purpose equally well?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main Leadenhall Street--and--" go--none." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Clair, of Lee." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I the matter." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "'A dozen yards or so.' off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs miles off. you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "He said too much." page at http://pglaf.org up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of we went to search for him, face downward in a little hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." amused." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall brain must have something in it." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "You have carte blanche." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything of Fenchurch Street." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "No, finished." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in you do it in twenty minutes!' his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "How on earth--" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past go--none." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the outsides of the windows. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside Again Holmes raved in the air. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit derbies." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Certainly." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "What, then?" all that?" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "What have you to say now?" kindly on the shoulder. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their was a perfect sample of the class. young Openshaw's." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. present." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has official police." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the cigars in their mouths. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was I. "One of the highest in England." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "I say it is." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "And how in the world did you find them?" untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew habit of advancing money.' the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I delighted to hear it," he said. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully success. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "In which, sir?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's Eyford." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus little trying to do so much typewriting?" so far?" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' dear old homesteads?" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "But she could not love him." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few served to weaken the effect. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "And how did he make his money?" The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted dramatic, in fact." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "I have seen the police." sparkled upon his finger. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." writing, and yet I know it well." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "You saw the ventilator, too?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of the salesman. Holmes. the coronet at all injured?" "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two it." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "Pray do so." present." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled little adventures." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "My private note-paper." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort should be so warm over such a trifle." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making charge against him will break down." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You