Datasets:
elapt1c
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ElapticAI-512

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xet
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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.
“You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you fasten all
the windows?
“Yes.
“Were they all fastened this morning?
“Yes.
“You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked to
your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?
“Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and who may
have heard uncle’s remarks about the coronet.
“I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her sweetheart,
and that the two may have planned the robbery.
“But what is the good of all these vague theories, cried the banker
impatiently, “when I have told you that I saw Arthur with the coronet
in his hands?
“Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this girl,
Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I presume?
“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?
“That is it on the dressing-table.