Here the cabman
was directed to wait. A short walk brought us to a secluded
road fringed with pleasant houses, each standing in its own
grounds. In the light of a street lamp we read "Laburnum Villa"
upon the gate-post of one of them. The occupants had evidently
retired to rest, for all was dark save for a fanlight over the
hall door, which shed a single blurred circle on to the garden
path. The wooden fence which separated the grounds from the
road threw a dense black shadow upon the inner side, and here
it was that we crouched.
"I fear that you'll have a long wait," Holmes whispered.
"We may thank our stars that it is not raining. I don't think we
can even venture to smoke to pass the time. However, it's a two
to one chance that we get something to pay us for our trouble."
It proved, however, that our vigil was not to be so long as
Holmes had led us to fear, and it ended in a very sudden and
singular fashion. In an instant, without the least sound to
warn us of his coming, the garden gate swung open, and a lithe,
dark figure, as swift and active as an ape, rushed up the garden
path. We saw it whisk past the light thrown from over the door
and disappear against the black shadow of the house.
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