His bicycle was kept in a small shed beside this lawn,
and it also was gone.
"He had been with me for two years, and came with the best
references; but he was a silent, morose man, not very popular
either with masters or boys. No trace could be found of the
fugitives, and now on Thursday morning we are as ignorant as
we were on Tuesday. Inquiry was, of course, made at once at
Holdernesse Hall. It is only a few miles away, and we imagined
that in some sudden attack of home-sickness he had gone back
to his father; but nothing had been heard of him. The Duke is
greatly agitated -- and as to me, you have seen yourselves the
state of nervous prostration to which the suspense and the
responsibility have reduced me. Mr. Holmes, if ever you put
forward your full powers, I implore you to do so now, for never
in your life could you have a case which is more worthy of them."
Sherlock Holmes had listened with the utmost intentness to the
statement of the unhappy schoolmaster. His drawn brows and the
deep furrow between them showed that he needed no exhortation to
concentrate all his attention upon a problem which, apart from
the tremendous interests involved, must appeal so directly to
his love of the complex and the unusual.
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