Then I gathered up a few
plates and pots of silver, to carry out the idea of a robbery,
and there I left them with orders to give the alarm when I had
a quarter of an hour's start. I dropped the silver into the
pond and made off for Sydenham, feeling that for once in my life
I had done a real good night's work. And that's the truth and
the whole truth, Mr. Holmes, if it costs me my neck."
Holmes smoked for some time in silence. Then he crossed
the room and shook our visitor by the hand.
"That's what I think," said he. "I know that every word is
true, for you have hardly said a word which I did not know.
No one but an acrobat or a sailor could have got up to that
bell-rope from the bracket, and no one but a sailor could have
made the knots with which the cord was fastened to the chair.
Only once had this lady been brought into contact with sailors,
and that was on her voyage, and it was someone of her own class
of life, since she was trying hard to shield him and so showing
that she loved him. You see how easy it was for me to lay my
hands upon you when once I had started upon the right trail."
"I thought the police never could have seen through our dodge.
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