13572 Was it the thief that did it out of bravado?
13573 Or was it someone who was with the thief who did it in order to prevent the crime?
13574 Or was it an accident?
13575 Or was it-?'
13576 He sank back into the state of intense and silent thought from which he had emerged, but it seemed to me, accustomed as I was to his every mood, that some new possibility had dawned suddenly upon him.
13577 It was twenty-past three when we reached our terminus, and after a hasty luncheon at the buffet we pushed on at once to Scotland Yard.
13578 Holmes had already wired to Forbes, and we found him waiting to receive us: a small, foxy man, with a sharp but by no means amiable expression.
13579 He was decidedly frigid in his manner to us, especially when he heard the errand upon which we had come.
13580 'I've heard of your methods before now, Mr. Holmes,' said he, tartly.
13581 'You are ready enough to use all the information that the police can lay at your disposal, and then you try to finish the case yourself and bring discredit upon them.'
13582 'On the contrary,' said Holmes; 'out of my last fifty-three cases my name has only appeared in four, and the police have had all the credit in forty-nine.
13583 I don't blame you for not knowing this; for you are young and inexperienced; but if you wished to get on in your new duties you will work with me, and not against me.'
13584 'I'd be very glad of a hint or two,' said the detective, changing his manner.
13585 'I've certainly had no credit from the case so far.'