Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I met
her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom.
Do you know him?
Oh, yes! he is the greengrocer who brings our vegetables round. His
name is Francis Prosper.
He stood, said Holmes, to the left of the door that is to say,
farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?
Yes, he did.
And he is a man with a wooden leg?
Something like fear sprang up in the young lady s expressive black
eyes. Why, you are like a magician, said she. How do you know that?
She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Holmes thin, eager
face.
I should be very glad now to go upstairs, said he. I shall probably
wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps I had better
take a look at the lower windows before I go up.
He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the
large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. This he
opened and made a very careful examination of the sill with his
powerful magnifying lens. Now we shall go upstairs, said he at last.
The banker s dressing-room was a plainly furnished little chamber, with
a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Holmes went to the
bureau first and looked hard at the lock.
Which key was used to open it? he asked.
That which my son himself indicated that of the cupboard of the
lumber-room.
Have you it here?
261