and all the queen's men cannot avail in this matter." He had
spread out his big map of London and leaned eagerly over it.
"Well, well," said he presently with an exclamation of
satisfaction, "things are turning a little in our direction at
last. Why, Watson, I do honestly believe that we are going to
pull it off, after all." He slapped me on the shoulder with a
sudden burst of hilarity. "I am going out now. It is only a
reconnaissance. I will do nothing serious without my trusted
comrade and biographer at my elbow. Do you stay here, and the
odds are that you will see me again in an hour or two. If time
hangs heavy get foolscap and a pen, and begin your narrative of
how we saved the State."

I felt some reflection of his elation in my own mind, for I knew
well that he would not depart so far from his usual austerity of
demeanour unless there was good cause for exultation. All the
long November evening I waited, filled with impatience for his
return. At last, shortly after nine o'clock, there arrived a
messenger with a note:

Am dining at Goldini's Restaurant, Gloucester Road, Kensington.
Please come at once and join me there. Bring with you a jemmy, a
dark lantern, a chisel, and a revolver.

S.H.

It was a nice equipment for a respectable citizen to carry
through the dim, fog-draped streets. I stowed them all
discreetly away in my overcoat and drove straight to the address
given. There sat my friend at a little round table near the door