“Then，good-night，yourmajesty，andItrustthatweshallsoonhavesomegoodnewsforyou。Andgood-night，Watson，“headded，asthewheelsoftheroyalbroughamrolleddownthestreet。“Ifyouwillbegoodenoughtocallto-morrowafternoon，atthreeo’clock，Ishouldliketochatthislittlematteroverwithyou。“
Atthreeo’clockpreciselyIwasatBakerStreet，butHolmeshadnotyetreturned。Thelandladyinformedmethathehadleftthehouseshortlyaftereighto’clockinthemorning。Isatdownbesidethefire，however，withtheintentionofawaitinghim，howeverlonghemightbe。Iwasalreadydeeplyinterestedinhisinquiry，for，thoughitwassurroundedbynoneofthegrimandstrangefeatureswhichwereassociatedwiththetwocrimeswhichI
havealreadyrecorded，still，thenatureofthecaseandtheexaltedstationofhisclientgaveitacharacterofitsown。
Indeed，apartfromthenatureoftheinvestigationwhichmyfriendhadonhand，therewassomethinginhismasterlygraspofasituation，andhiskeen，incisivereasoning，whichmadeitapleasuretometostudyhissystemofwork，andtofollowthequick，subtlemethodsbywhichhedisentangledthemostinextricablemysteries。SoaccustomedwasItohisinvariablesuccessthattheverypossibilityofhisfailinghadceasedtoenterintomyhead。
Itwascloseuponfourbeforethedooropened，andadrunken-