An open telegram
lay upon the table.
"What do you think of this, Watson?" he asked, tossing it across.
It was from Norwood, and ran as follows:--
"IMPORTANT FRESH EVIDENCE TO HAND. MCFARLANE'S GUILT DEFINITELY
ESTABLISHED. ADVISE YOU TO ABANDON CASE. -- LESTRADE."
"This sounds serious," said I.
"It is Lestrade's little cock-a-doodle of victory," Holmes answered,
with a bitter smile. "And yet it may be premature to abandon the
case. After all, important fresh evidence is a two-edged thing,
and may possibly cut in a very different direction to that which
Lestrade imagines. Take your breakfast, Watson, and we will go out
together and see what we can do. I feel as if I shall need your
company and your moral support to-day."
My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his
peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit
himself no food, and I have known him presume upon his iron
strength until he has fainted from pure inanition. "At present
I cannot spare energy and nerve force for digestion," he would
say in answer to my medical remonstrances. I was not surprised,
therefore, when this morning he left his untouched meal behind
him and started with me for Norwood.
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