And Mademoiselle s address? he asked.
Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John s Wood.
Holmes took a note of it. One other question, said he. Was the
photograph a cabinet?
It was.
Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon have
some good news for you. And good-night, Watson, he added, as the
wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. If you will be
good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three o clock I should like
to chat this little matter over with you.
II.
At three o clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had not
yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the house
shortly after eight o clock in the morning. I sat down beside the fire,
however, with the intention of awaiting him, however long he might be.
I was already deeply interested in his inquiry, for, though it was
surrounded by none of the grim and strange features which were
associated with the two crimes which I have already recorded, still,
the nature of the case and the exalted station of his client gave it a
character of its own. Indeed, apart from the nature of the
investigation which my friend had on hand, there was something in his
masterly grasp of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which
made it a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the
quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most inextricable
mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable success that the very
possibility of his failing had ceased to enter into my head.
It was close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken-looking
groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face and
disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Accustomed as I was to my
friend s amazing powers in the use of disguises, I had to look three
times before I was certain that it was indeed he. With a nod he
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