to this young gentleman. It must, as you say, have been an

overpowering necessity which tore him away in such a fashion,

and the same necessity is likely to hold him away. Let us step

round together to this hotel, and see if the porter can throw

any fresh light upon the matter."

Sherlock Holmes was a past-master in the art of putting a

humble witness at his ease, and very soon, in the privacy of

Godfrey Staunton's abandoned room, he had extracted all that

the porter had to tell. The visitor of the night before was not

a gentleman, neither was he a working man. He was simply what

the porter described as a "medium-looking chap"; a man of fifty,

beard grizzled, pale face, quietly dressed. He seemed himself

to be agitated. The porter had observed his hand trembling when

he had held out the note. Godfrey Staunton had crammed the note

into his pocket. Staunton had not shaken hands with the man in

the hall. They had exchanged a few sentences, of which the

porter had only distinguished the one word "time." Then they

had hurried off in the manner described. It was just half-past

ten by the hall clock.

14.07.2007