13503    'God bless you for promising to come,' cried our client.

13504    'It gives me fresh life to know that something is being done.

13505    By the way, I have had a letter from Lord Holdhurst.'

13506    'Ha!

13507    What did he say?'

13508    'He was cold, but not harsh.

13509    I dare say my severe illness prevented him from being that.

13510    He repeated that the matter was of the utmost importance, and added that no steps would be taken about my future - by which he means, of course, my dismissal - until my health was restored and I had an opportunity of repairing my misfortune.'

13511    'Well, that was reasonable and considerate,' said Holmes.

13512    'Come, Watson, for we have a good day's work before us in town.'

13513    Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and we were soon whirling up in a Portsmouth train.

13514    Holmes was sunk in profound thought, and hardly opened his mouth until we had passed Clapham Junction.

13515    'It's a very cheering thing to come into London by any of these lines which run high and allow you to look down upon the houses like this.'

13516    I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid enough, but he soon explained himself.

13517    'Look at those big, isolated clumps of buildings rising up above the states, like brick islands in a leadcoloured sea.'