"Think again."

"I'm too ill to think."

"Well, then, I'll help you. Did anything come by post?"

"By post?"

"A box by chance?"

"I'm fainting--I'm gone!"

"Listen, Holmes!" There was a sound as if he was shaking the
dying man, and it was all that I could do to hold myself quiet in
my hiding-place. "You must hear me. You SHALL hear me. Do you
remember a box--an ivory box? It came on Wednesday. You opened
it--do you remember?"

"Yes, yes, I opened it. There was a sharp spring inside it.
Some joke--"

"It was no joke, as you will find to your cost. You fool, you
would have it and you have got it. Who asked you to cross my
path? If you had left me alone I would not have hurt you."

"I remember," Holmes gasped. "The spring! It drew blood. This
box--this on the table."

"The very one, by George! And it may as well leave the room in
my pocket. There goes your last shred of evidence. But you have