Colonel Stark chops off his left-hand thumb at the windowsill. Falling to the ground he lies unconscious in the rosebushes.1st DayEarly morning, half-dazed, Hatherley goes to the Eyford Station and gets the train to Reading, on his way to London.A little past 6:00 a.m., Hatherley arrives at Paddington Station.Before 7:00 a.m.: Hatherley is brought from Paddington Station to Watson’s home for medical attention for his thumb.Later that morning, Watson and Hatherley arrive at Baker St. to consult with Holmes.Three hours or so afterward, Holmes, Watson, Hatherley, Inspector Bradstreet, and a plain-clothes man, all on the train together bound from Reading to the little Berkshire Village of Elford.Arriving at Elford, they find the house where Hatherley had been the night before was on fire, most likely started by the oil lamp Hatherley left behind in the pressroom being crushed. And they discover the fugitives had fled very early that morning.
Story Conclusion:“I very much fear that they are a good hundred miles off by now.”And Holmes’ fears came to be realized, for from that day to this no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Earlier that morning a peasant had met a cart, containing several people and some very bulky boxes, driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes’ ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue to their whereabouts.The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements which they found within, and still more so by discovering a newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill on the second floor. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so dearly; large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored in an outhouse, but no coins were to be found, which may have explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been already referred to.How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained for ever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out of the way of danger.“Well,” said our engineer, ruefully, as we took our seats to return once more to London, “it has been a pretty business for me! I have lost my thumb, I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what have I gained?”“Experience,” said Holmes, laughing. “Indirectly it may be of value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence.”
Weather:None Mentioned.
Payment:None Mentioned.
Quotes:“ For the love of heaven!” she whispered, “get away from here before it is too late!”Holmes“They are coiners on a large scale,” said Holmes. “They have been turning out half-crowns by the thousands.”“Experience,” said Holmes, laughing. “Indirectly it may be of value, you know, you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence.”“all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes’s ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue to their whereabouts.”
Notes:Watson brings the client to Holmes.“fuller’s earth,” a valuable product that the counterfeiters said they were excavating and used the hydraulic press to process.Watson not living at Baker St.—newly married and in private practice.
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