I see her ladyship s waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of sudden
wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has been for
better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous in the means
you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the making of a very
pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Horner, the plumber, had
been concerned in some such matter before, and that suspicion would
rest the more readily upon him. What did you do, then? You made some
small job in my lady s room you and your confederate Cusack and you
managed that he should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you
rifled the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man
arrested. You then
Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my
companion s knees. For God s sake, have mercy! he shrieked. Think of
my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I never went
wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I ll swear it on a Bible.
Oh, don t bring it into court! For Christ s sake, don t!
Get back into your chair! said Holmes sternly. It is very well to
cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this poor Horner
in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing.
I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the charge
against him will break down.
Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account of
the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the goose
into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies your only hope
of safety.
Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. I will tell you it just
as it happened, sir, said he. When Horner had been arrested, it
seemed to me that it would be best for me to get away with the stone at
once, for I did not know at what moment the police might not take it
into their heads to search me and my room. There was no place about the
hotel where it would be safe. I went out, as if on some commission, and
I made for my sister s house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and
lived in Brixton Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the
way there every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a
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