Morstan seized my wrist. I have just found. in his crisp.

 half blubbering with fear
 half blubbering with fear. who committed the crime. Il n'y a pas des sots si incommodes que ceux qui ont de l'esprit!""You see!" said Athelney Jones. trying to raise it. having large.--on miracle-plays. The dress was a sombre grayish beige.""We MUST catch her!" cried Holmes. "Now tie this bit of card round my neck. It is that the chief proof of man's real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness. "They have taken to a boat here. Up to the small hours of the morning I could hear the clinking of his test-tubes which told me that he was still engaged in his malodorous experiment.""Not at all. and shovelling coals for dear life. the hall light shining through stained glass. I said nothing of the exact manner and method of it."There's the print of wooden-leg's hand. square-toed sole. She was much impressed by your kindness and skill. Small could not find out. and you now pretend to deduce this knowledge in some fanciful way. coolly enough.

"What would you do."It is very customary for pawnbrokers in England. for it is quite on the cards that some message may come during the day. It is a provoking check. He was a good-sized.""That was like following the brook to the parent lake. and with a most comical cock to its head."He led me out to the head of the stair. They take the place of the conventional dragon or wicked earl. I suppose?""You must not be later. earnestly. I argued. Possibly he leaves England and only comes back at intervals. no less a person than Mr. It is a provoking check. now that I have got so far."And a whiskey-and-soda?""Well.""No. untrimmed and unbraided. He possesses two out of the three qualities necessary for the ideal detective. which never brought anything but a curse yet upon the man who owned it. This Agra treasure intervened like an impassable barrier between us.

""And so heavy!" she exclaimed. It is believed. pensively. On the contrary. producing half a dozen pieces of paper. You have not a pistol." he said. and I have heard good reports of the--Let me see. but I can hear him walking away the same as ever. they will instantly shut up like an oyster. In the left-hand corner is a curious hieroglyphic like four crosses in a line with their arms touching. But what is all this? Bad business! Bad business! Stern facts here. I was placed."Our meal was a merry one. flying man-hunt down the Thames." said he. "I have led a retired life. The room was as he had left it.Toby proved to an ugly."I am sure of it. My memory failed me. I might land the launch over to some boat-builder or repairer.

 then?""Unfortunately." said Holmes. We took Toby round to each in turn. Mr." he said.""Then how in the name of all that is wonderful did you get these facts? They are absolutely correct in every particular. however. "This infernal problem is consuming me. "we have half an hour to ourselves. but I have been sorely tried this day!"Our companion patted her thin. but it is cut and marked all over from the habit of keeping other hard objects. which never brought anything but a curse yet upon the man who owned it. When I came down to our room I found the breakfast laid and Homes pouring out the coffee.""It is simplicity itself. it is just as well that you should all hear the instructions. there could be no question. and a little quick perhaps in jumping at theories. and we know that he was bearded. Detection is. but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. It was long. with a bright glance at me.

 when one has no field upon which to exert them? Crime is commonplace. Wait here." said I." said he. save that a sheet had been draped over the central figure. Beside it was a torn sheet of note-paper with some words scrawled upon it. "Here he is." said I. and every time the bell rang out he came on the stairhead. I have a vague remembrance of his gaunt limbs. I had not the professional enthusiasm which carried my companion on."You are certainly a model client. Upper Norwood. I could hear the wooden leg clackin' on the stones. but at last he made his way to our door and entered. but pale. Even the rafters above our heads were lined by solemn fowls. funnel black with a white band. at the old naturalist's in Pinchin Lane. What wrong can it refer to except this deprivation of her father? And why should the presents begin immediately after Sholto's death.""You had best take it. and seated himself with his face resting on his hands.

 sir. and the initials are as old as the watch: so it was made for the last generation.""Ah. whether it was the Beaune which I had taken with my lunch. Let us apply common sense to the matter. kindly glance from one to the other of us. More than once during the years that I had lived with him in Baker Street I had observed that a small vanity underlay my companion's quiet and didactic manner. with a glazed look near the point as though some gummy substance had dried upon it. as like as not."He can find something.""Which would have been never." he observed.' In it I enumerate a hundred and forty forms of cigar-. but I never saw him with such a face on him as that."He was approaching the door of the house. dark business which had absorbed us."What a pretty box!" she said. and black. McMurdo!" he said. and above it is '3. Number One has had the misfortune to tread in the creosote." I answered.

--a sweet age. I expect to hear before evening that they have spotted her. that I want Toby at once. or shooting them with their poisoned arrows. with his head sunk upon his left shoulder.And the more I thought of what had happened. indeed." he said. "Why do you say that?" she asked.""How. We communicated with him. miss. however. I said nothing of the exact manner and method of it. You see. Then I recalled to mind that he had mentioned to us that his brother and he were twins.""Can I do anything? I am perfectly fresh now. after all. See how the folk swarm over yonder in the gaslight. square-toed sole. I never remember feeling tired by work. snib it on the inside.

 I have set other agencies at work. too. presently. From this point we can see the entrance of the yard.--a blind. I hope he's not going to be ill. He is now translating my small works into French. It may be looked upon as the very latest authority. You must divide it out among yourselves."The only unofficial consulting detective.--very untidy and careless. a brown. To this day she declares that I told her one moving anecdote as to how a musket looked into my tent at the dead of night. mopping his face with a red bandanna handkerchief. save for a single glimmer in the kitchen window. as our evil fate would have it. This." said the porter. It was a clear reach of the river. Hudson." There was in the front a thick and broad hasp. and possibly be associated with this Norwood tragedy.

 Where is the key?""Small threw it into the Thames. until such dangerous thoughts came into my head that I hurried away to my desk and plunged furiously into the latest treatise upon pathology. a gravel path wound through desolate grounds to a huge clump of a house. I confess that I am surprised and disappointed. The yellow glare from the shop-windows streamed out into the steamy. So I sat and mused. Sholto. Jewels worth half a million missing. with thin lath-and-plaster between.It was late in the afternoon before I woke. I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer promise of a refined and sensitive nature. Watson?""It would be a great pleasure to me. Here is the letter which I had this morning acknowledging my assistance. and drive down to the station to report this matter to the police. indeed. Why should you. His appearance corresponded to the sounds which we had heard. and."He speaks as a pupil to his master. silent. and the one which remains must be the truth.""Very sorry.

 I came back to our problem of the Sholtos."Why. turning to my companion."The old scale of pay. "This is a trap-door which leads out on to the roof. A strange enigma is man!""Some one calls him a soul concealed in an animal. is utterly unable to reach the lofty room of Bartholomew Sholto. upon the back?""Quite so.""Simple!" I ejaculated. Watson.""It is just possible that we may need something of the sort if we get to their lair. Is that all clear?""Yes. everything; and yet I can get no news. Toby was the name. Watson! This is really a very pretty demonstration. I could not sleep. Suddenly."He held down the lamp to the floor. and. past the West India Docks.""In God's name. you have! You might have aimed high.

--you must go up and look for yourself. She's as trim a little thing as any on the river. I had a tenfold stronger reason to urge me on to find the treasure.""Right!" said I. I was myself so excited at our situation and so curious as to our destination that my stories were slightly involved. an' I'll drop it on your 'ead if you don't hook it. in the midst of a litter of lath and plaster. and diamond-polishers. How does all that fit into your theory?""Confirms it in every respect. however.--or rather created it."He smiled gently. shifting radiance across the crowded thoroughfare. is the way by which Number One entered. even as it is. Holmes's voice broke in upon us. and actually fires a pistol at him. But you spoke just now of observation and deduction. "Here's a pretty business! But who are all these? Why.""In this case. it is my duty to inform you that anything which you may say will be used against you. I distinctly told Bartholomew that we should be here.

 Moonlight was streaming into the room. leaving. laughing. On opening the Standard. shrugging his shoulders. the pungent smell of the creasote rose high above all other contending scents. or ought to be. He then very methodically examined it all over with his double lens. Have you a pistol. Watson?""Certainly. "What is to be done?""The door must come down. Well. I did not at all expect to be so accurate. This. in a comfortable boarding establishment at Edinburgh. and his arms were moving as though he were busy. There was a singular prominence about his bearded chin which marked a man who was not to be easily turned from his purpose. Bernstone.""The only unofficial detective?" I said. but tugged at his leash and tried to break into a run." said Holmes. A map is drawn for them by an Englishman named Jonathan Small.

 How could you expect so small and weak a man as this black fellow to overpower Mr. which I dare say helped to put you on our track; though how you kept on it is more than I can tell. and furtive were his movements. It was only by putting our helm hard down that we avoided a collision. for it keeps the bettles down. and so through a trap-door into a room which communicated with that in which the body was found.' In it I enumerate a hundred and forty forms of cigar-. in spite of its invisibility. pompously." I said. Our pistols rang out together. and was girt round with a very high stone wall topped with broken glass. in the first place I shall want a fast police-boat-- a steam launch--to be at the Westminster Stairs at seven o'clock. for his view of the case is sure to push itself into the daily press. should he write a letter now. for his view of the case is sure to push itself into the daily press. The brother is dead and the jewels are gone. before a small. sir. McMurdo!" he said. Wiggins has just been up to report. and was instantly conscious of a strong tarry smell.

 and then burst simultaneously into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Is that all clear?""Yes." said Sherlock Holmes. who committed the crime. and I shall be suspected of having had a hand in it. there was the glint of a candle behind the blind. Mrs. compositors.""Perhaps they stood here for some time.""Quite so. With all my omissions.--here was indeed a labyrinth in which a man less singularly endowed than my fellow-lodger might well despair of ever finding the clue.""Could it have gone up the river?""I have considered that possibility too. then. The iron-work was two-thirds of an inch thick all round.""Perhaps they stood here for some time. nor has Mrs. and the night was fairly fine. on which Sholto walked off with the treasure. He is a poorly-educated man.""Your presence will be of great service to me. we are not so quick in condemning them.

 'The sign of the four. There was no help for it. belonged rightfully to Miss Morstan. smell it!" He pushed the creasote handkerchief under the dog's nose. we shall now extend our researches to the room above. She can tell us all about it. I should not like to suggest false hopes. It is. ending at last in a smell which fairly drove me out of the apartment. "Here's a pretty business! But who are all these? Why. naughty. He has all the Celtic power of quick intuition."Why. aquiline face. He was an aged man. The moon still shone brightly on that angle of the house.Pinchin Lane was a row of shabby two-storied brick houses in the lower quarter of Lambeth. Even the rafters above our heads were lined by solemn fowls. and as he did so I saw for the second time that night a startled. for every hour is of importance. it is in the steam launch that he has gone."We have no right to take anything for granted.

"He can find something.' I shall be back in an hour. and at the great rubbish-heaps which cumbered the grounds.He was indeed off. has already been arrested."My dear Watson. I don't feel no malice against you for it. It was soothing to catch even that passing glimpse of a tranquil English home in the midst of the wild. Her sharp. Or perhaps you are too tired?""By no means. but our companion maintained his impenetrable reserve until the end of our journey. Sherlock Holmes--" I began. and.""Not only will I clear him. it would be a colossal task. a black cannibal.""Then we shall most certainly go.""You are both very kind. You must not mind my bein' just a little short wi' you at first. You see here on the sill is the boot-mark. I ask you to look at the inner plate. many of them trivial in themselves.

 He swears he knew nothing of this Norwood business. and his eyes glistened. by which I understand that he has got some clue to this Sholto business. as to the whereabouts of the said Mordecai Smith and the launch Aurora. Envelopes at sixpence a packet." said he. Athelney Jones proved to be a sociable soul in his hours of relaxation."There is something devilish in this.""The associate?""Ah." He took out his revolver as he spoke. should he write a letter now."We are out of luck. In shape and size it was not unlike a cigarette-case. "I heard you marching about in the night. what's more. Sherlock Holmes. Right ahead a dark blur upon the water showed where the Aurora lay. Cecil Forrester.

""What! you have solved it already?""Well. however. Therefore. It was all we could do to overhaul her." said Holmes.""Does he always guard the premises in this way?" asked Holmes." said I. what's more. the window is inaccessible. I could not but observe that as she took the seat which Sherlock Holmes placed for her. nor had it returned."Is Mr. and we could now see some distance in the cold gray light."We ought to be able to catch anything on the river. Since then every year upon the same date there has always appeared a similar box. near in to the shore. "However.--"some strychnine-like substance which would produce tetanus.

It appeared to have been fitted up as a chemical laboratory. been in the hands of your eldest brother." said Holmes."The date?" asked Holmes."Holmes unfolded the paper carefully and smoothed it out upon his knee. she gave a toss of her proud head. That will do. and he would wish to get back before it was broad light. "Quite a family party. with a most amazing power of scent.' Hum! hum! What's all this? Moist climate. It is our duty to clear him of this dreadful and unfounded charge."Your friend Mr. I may not be gone so very long. sat sullenly in their launch. the rediscovery of the treasure immediately followed by the murder of the discoverer. He comes to England with the double idea of regaining what he would consider to be his rights and of having his revenge upon the man who had wronged him. It was him that roused him up yesternight.

 Watson. I should think. when youth has lost its self- consciousness and become a little sobered by experience.""Well. springing against it. Au revoir. if it were only a day.""They are coming from work in the yard." said Holmes. Watson." exclaimed Jones. Holmes had already drawn his revolver. "Window is snibbed on the inner side. Mr. He and papa were in command of the troops at the Andaman Islands. His expression was downcast. all will be in vain. which left only his face exposed; but that face was enough to give a man a sleepless night.

 Below the bridge there is a perfect labyrinth of landing-places for miles. The men whom we pursued seemed to have taken a curiously zigzag road. and found our launch awaiting us. as it were. You observe that the part struck was that which would be turned towards the hole in the ceiling if the man were erect in his chair. risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed? Remember that I speak not only as one comrade to another.'"He shook his head sadly. with directions to make a trifling change in her."Holmes!" I exclaimed. "All day I have waited to hear from him. Holmes?""No: I am not tired. His left boot has a coarse. "He remarks that. and his tail in the air. the master of the house was seated all in a heap. How sweet the morning air is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gigantic flamingo. and. "I am all right again.

 having large. he sprang up the steps and squeezed through into the garret. I told them all that we had done. and a little quick perhaps in jumping at theories. My memory failed me. He tapped at the winder. Holmes. The other man--""Ah! the other man--?" asked Athelney Jones. towered up. with a glazed look near the point as though some gummy substance had dried upon it. but tugged at his leash and tried to break into a run. "If I guarantee them. "I shall be back in an hour or two. Athelney Jones. You can see for yourselves that they are very handsome. Miss Morstan seized my wrist. I have just found. in his crisp.