“No.”

 

“There’s a half-sovereign for you,” my companion said, standing up and taking

his hat. “I am afraid, Rance, that you will never rise in the force. That head

of yours should be for use as well as ornament. You might have gained your

sergeant’s stripes last night. The man whom you held in your hands is the man

who holds the clue of this mystery, and whom we are seeking. There is no use of

arguing about it now; I tell you that it is so. Come along, Doctor.”

 

We started off for the cab together, leaving our informant incredulous, but

obviously uncomfortable.

 

“The blundering fool,” Holmes said, bitterly, as we drove back to our lodgings.

“Just to think of his having such an incomparable bit of good luck, and not

taking advantage of it.”

 

“I am rather in the dark still. It is true that the description of this man

tallies with your idea of the second party in this mystery. But why should he

come back to the house after leaving it? That is not the way of criminals.”

 

“The ring, man, the ring: that was what he came back for. If we have no other

way of catching him, we can always bait our line with the ring. I shall have

him, Doctor—I’ll lay you two to one that I have him. I must thank you for it

all. I might not have gone but for you, and so have missed the finest study I