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Books at bedtime. Sherlock Holmes, the sign of the four chapter three, in quest of a solution.

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It was half past five, the four homes returned. He was bright, eager, and in excellent spirits,

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a mood which in his case, alternated with the fix of the blackest oppression.

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There is no great mystery in this, he said, taking the cup of tea which I had poured out

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for him. The facts appear to admit of only one explanation.

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What? Have you solved it already?

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Well, that would be too much to say. I have discovered a suggestive fact, that is all.

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It is, however, very suggestive. The details are still to be added. I have just found, on

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consulting the black files of the times, that major, shaltow of upper Norwood, late of

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the 34th Bombay in Diffantry, died upon the 28th of April, 1882.

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I may be very obtuse homes, but I fail to see what this suggests.

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No, you surprise me. Look at it in this way then. Captain Morston disappears. The only

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person in London whom he could have visited is Major Shaltow. Major Shaltow denies having

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heard that he was in London. Four years later, Shaltow dies.

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Within a week of this death, Captain Morston's daughter receives a valuable present, which

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is repeated from year to year, and now culminates in a letter which describes her as a wronged

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woman. What wrong can it refer to accept this deprivation of her father? And why should

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the presence begin immediately after Shaltow's death, unless it is that Shaltow's heir knows

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something of the mystery and desires to make compensation?

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Have you any alternative theory which will meet the facts?

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What a strange compensation and how strangely made. Why, too, should he write a letter now

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rather than six years ago? Again, the letter speaks of giving her justice. What justice

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can she have? It is too much to suppose that her father is still alive. There is no other

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injustice in her case that you know of. There are difficulties. There are certainly difficulties

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said Sherlock Holmes, pensively. But our expedition of tonight will solve them all.

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Ah, here is a four wheeler and Miss Morston is inside. Are you already? Then we had better

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go down, for it is a little past the hour. I picked up my hat and my heaviest stick, but

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I observed that Holmes took his revolver from his drawer and slipped it into his pocket.

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It was clear that he thought that our night's work might be a serious one. Miss Morston

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was muffled in a dark cloak, and her sensitive face was composed, but pale. She must have been

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more than woman if she did not feel some uneasiness at the strange enterprise upon which we were

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embarking. Yet, her self-control was perfect, and she readily answered the few additional questions,

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which Sherlock Holmes put to her. Major Sholto was a very particular

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friend of Papar's, she said. His letters were full of allusions to the Major. He and Papar

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were in command of the troops at the Andermann Islands, so they were thrown a great deal

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together. By the way, a curious paper was found in Papar's desk when no one could understand.

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I don't suppose that it is of the slightest importance, but I thought you might care to

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see it, so I brought it with me. It is here. Holmes unfolded the paper carefully and smothered

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it out upon his knee. He then very methodically examined it all over with his double lens.

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It is paper of native Indian manufacturer, he remarked. It has at some time been pinned

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to a board. The diagram upon it appears to be a plan of part of a large building with

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numerous halls, corridors and passages. At one point is a small cross done in redding,

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and above it is 3.37 from left, infaded pencil writing. In the left corner is a curious

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hieroglyphic like four crosses in a line with their arms touching. Besides, is written in

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very rough and coarse characters, the sign of the form. Jonathan Small, Muhammad Singh,

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Abdul Akhan and Doss Agba. No, I confess that I do not see how this bears upon the matter,

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yet it is evidently a document of importance. It has been kept carefully in a pocketbook

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for one side is a clean as the other. It was in his pocketbook that I found it. Preserve

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it carefully then, Miss Morston, for it may prove to be of use to us. I begin to suspect

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that this matter may turn out to be much deeper, and more settled in I at first supposed.

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I must consider my ideas. He lent back in the cab, and I could see by his drawn brow and

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his vacant eyes that he was thinking intently. Miss Morston and I chatted in an undertone about

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our present expedition and its possible outcome, but our companion maintained his impenetrable

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reserve until the end of our journey. It was a September evening, and not yet seven

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o'clock, but the day had been a dreary one, and a dense, drizzly fog lay low upon the great

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city. Mud covered clouds droop sadly over the muddy

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streets. Down the strand, the lamps were but misty splotches to fuse light, which threw

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a feeble circular glimmer upon a slimy pavement. The yellow glare from the open shop window

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streamed out into the steamy, faprous air and threw a murky, shifting radiance across

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the crowded thoroughfare. There was, to my mind, something eerie and ghostly, in the endless

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possession of faces which flitted across these narrow bars of light, sad faces and glad,

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haggard and merry, like all humankind. They flitted from the gloom into the light and

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so back into the gloom once more. I am not subject to impressions, but the dull, heavy

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evening, with the strange business upon which we were engaged, combined to make me nervous

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and depressed. I could see from Miss Morston's manner that she was suffering from the same

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feeling. Holmes alone could rise superior to petty influences. He held his open notebook

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upon his knee, and from time to time he chopted downed figures and memorandered in the light

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of his pocket lantern. At the light's seams, the etter, the crowds were already thick of

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the side entrances. In front of continuous stream of handsome and forewheeler's were rattling

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up, discharging their cargos and shirt fronted men and beshalled the diamond women. We had

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hardly reached the third pillar which was our rendezvous, before a small, dark, brisk

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man in the dress of a coachman who costed us. Are you the parties who come with Miss Morston

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and these two gentlemen are my friends, she said. He bent a pair of wonderfully penetrating

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and questioning eyes upon us. You will excuse me, Miss, he said with a certain dogged

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manner, but I was to ask you to give me your word that neither of your companions is a police

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officer. I give you my word on that, she answered.

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We gave a shrew whistle on which a street Arab led across a forewheeler and opened the door.

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The man who had addressed us mounted to the box while we took our places inside. We had

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hardly done so before the driver whipped up his horse and we plunged away at a furious

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pace through the foggy streets. The situation was a curious one. We were driving to an unknown

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place, on an unknown errand. Yet our invitation was either a complex host which was an inconceivable

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hypothesis. Or else we had good reason to think that important issues might hang upon our

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journey. Miss Morston's demeanor was as resolute and collected as ever. I endeavoured to

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cheer and amuse her with reminisces of our adventures in Afghanistan, but to tell the truth. I was myself

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so excited at our situation and so curious as to our destination that my stories were slightly

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involved.

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To this day, she declares that I told her one moving anecdote as to how a musket looked

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into my tent at the dead of night and how I fired a double barrel tiger cab at it. At first,

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I had some idea as to the direction in which we were driving, but soon, what with our pace,

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the fog and my own limited knowledge of London, I lost my bearings and knew nothing saved

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that we seemed to be going a very long way. Sherlock Holmes was never at fault, however,

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and he muttered the names as the cab rattled through squares and in and out of torturous

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by-streets.

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Rochester Rowe said he, now Vincent Square, now we come out on the voxel bridge road. We

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are making for the Surrey side apparently. Yes, I thought so. Now we're on the bridge,

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we can catch a glimpse of the river. You did indeed get a fleeting view of the stretch

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of the Thames with the lamps shining upon the broad silent water, but our cab dashed

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on and was soon involved in our labyrinth of the streets upon the other side.

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"Once were Throed," said my companion, "priority road, like hill lane, stock will place,

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Robert Street, cold harbor lane. Our quest does not appear to take us to a very fashionable

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region."

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We had, indeed, reached a questionable and foreboding neighbourhood. Long lines of Delbric

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houses were only relieved by the coarse glare of Tordry brilliancy of public houses at

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the corner.

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Then came rows of two storied villas, each with a fronting of miniature gardens, and then

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again, interminable lines of new staring-bick buildings. The monster tentacles, which the

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giant city was throwing out into the country.

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At last, the cab drew up the third house in a new terrace. None of the other houses were

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inhabited, and that at which we stopped was as dark as its neighbours. Save for a singular

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glimmer in the kitchen window. On our knocking, however, the door was instantly thrown open

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by a Hindu servant, clad in a yellow turban, white loose-fitting clothes, and a yellow sash.

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There was something strangely incongruous in this oriental figure framed in the common

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placed doorway of a third-rate suburban dwelling.

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"The Saheab awaits you," said he, and even as he spoke, there came a high-piping voice from

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some inner room. "Show them into me, Kit McGurr." It cried, "Show them straight into me."

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>> [BLANK_AUDIO]