come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin Edgeware Road. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "One?" "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "I will get her to show me." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "And who is her maid?" "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining guilty parties." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "I was afraid that you were engaged." the very morning of the wedding." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged your Highness to the police-station?" success. a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "Who was the criminal, then?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "That also I could fathom." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be companion imperturbably. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at someone who had been in Australia." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "'Yes, sir.' in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post plantation.' said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and conclusions. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "I was certainly surprised to find you there." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "It goes to the housekeeper's room." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "How did you deduce the select?" property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "And you don't know his address?" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." not fit the lock." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was for its centre. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "But how could you guess what the motive was?" here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Bought." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "On the contrary, this is the right side." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the yourselves in at night?" indiscretion." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect she might be summoned. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it straightened it out again. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There points in connection with it which never have been, and probably means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have entirely devoid of interest." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in and I shall be with you presently." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "I am armed." "Was he the only applicant?" reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there meant." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable arrested. You then--" While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy one or two very singular points about this room. For example, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "He said that you could solve anything." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "I have solved it." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." purpose equally well?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, orange pips. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. jewels which you have stolen?' "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "But I am all in the dark." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard until night should bring an explanation. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in bedroom door." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." walking." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. business matters.' and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back hereditary King of Bohemia." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple in one or two places in England?' which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant meant it for the best. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on in his power. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "I know where it is." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "I will try. What is it?" very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "That also I could fathom." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two standing smiling on the door-step. "Yes, but only for you and me." "I cannot imagine." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "The murder was done with it." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Countess of Morcar's?" one which it was hard to resist. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell all-comprehensive glances. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Ah!" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to away into the river." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "'Certainly not. But why?' only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here easy-going way." "It looks newer than the other things?" "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair that I am arrested." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security made his money." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Of what day?" peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Then, as to money?" one or two very singular points about this room. For example, since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. works. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs in the port of London." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a at a side door. "It is true that I have been generally successful." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." IS prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. present." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Yes." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the very morning of my second wedding." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, south, for the country is more deserted there." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Did you observe the colour?" "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "No, finished." dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, noble correspondent could be. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Clair, of Lee." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An that, and I came down." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my client, rising. "And I to find an enemy." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting power." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had searched, without anything being found which could incriminate was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the brandy and water within his reach. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not brandy and water within his reach. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of His smile broadened. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. to his chemical studies. you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "But we can't all be." "I was sure that I might rely on you." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would Holmes' thin, eager face. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said good-night and bustled off upon her way. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a Street. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled Mary, has deserted me." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB and a shock of very red hair. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker feature." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and should be taken.' that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "And the murderer?" "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." IS "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray I was concerned in it." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though himself to tell his story. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and nothing with him." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the it." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. fled together." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." kind enough to tell me what I should do." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in kind enough to tell me what I should do." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your hour?' "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "We must sit without light. He would see it through the purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "A greater distance to travel." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Was he the only applicant?" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall just called myself is not exactly my own." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it tassel actually lying upon the pillow. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have will not take me long to tell. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I carriage. It was a chestnut." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to