self-restraint. Disregarding my presence, she went straight to her uncle and

passed her hand over his head with a sweet womanly caress.


“You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you not,

dad?” she asked.


“No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom.”


“But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman’s

instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will be sorry for

having acted so harshly.”


“Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?”


“Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should suspect

him.”


“How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with the

coronet in his hand?”


“Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take my word

for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say no more. It is so

dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in prison!”


“I shall never let it drop until the gems are found—never, Mary!

Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences to me. Far

from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman down from London to

inquire more deeply into it.”


“This gentleman?” she asked, facing round to me.


“No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in the

stable lane now.”


“The stable lane?” She raised her dark eyebrows. “What can he

hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, that you will

succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, that my cousin Arthur is

innocent of this crime.”


“I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may prove

it,” returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the snow from his

shoes. “I believe I have the honour of addressing Miss Mary Holder. Might

I ask you a question or two?”


“Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up.”


“You heard nothing yourself last night?”


“Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard that, and I

came down.”