An instant later
it was hurriedly replaced, and I caught a glimpse of a dark,
beautiful, horrified face glaring at the narrow opening of the
box-room. Then the door crashed to, the key turned once more,
and all was silence. Holmes twitched my sleeve, and together we
stole down the stair.
"I will call again in the evening," said he to the expectant
landlady. "I think, Watson, we can discuss this business better
in our own quarters."
"My surmise, as you saw, proved to be correct," said he, speaking
from the depths of his easy-chair. "There has been a
substitution of lodgers. What I did not foresee is that we
should find a woman, and no ordinary woman, Watson."
"She saw us."
"Well, she saw something to alarm her. That is certain. The
general sequence of events is pretty clear, is it not? A couple
seek refuge in London from a very terrible and instant danger.
The measure of that danger is the rigour of their precautions.
The man, who has some work which he must do, desires to leave the
woman in absolute safety while he does it. It is not an easy
problem, but he solved it in an original fashion, and so
effectively that her presence was not even known to the landlady
who supplies her with food. The printed messages, as is now
evident, were to prevent her sex being discovered by her writing.
The man cannot come near the woman, or he will guide their
enemies to her.
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