13829 Do you think he expects to make a success of it?'
13830 'He has said nothing.'
13831 'That is a bad sign.'
13832 'On the contrary, I have noticed that when he is off the trail he generally says so.
13833 It is when he is on a scent, and is not quite absolutely sure yet that it is the right one, that he is most taciturn.
13834 Now, my dear fellow, we can't help matters by making ourselves nervous about them, so let me implore you to go to bed, and so be fresh for whatever may await us tomorrow.'
13835 I was able at last to persuade my companion to take my advice, though I knew from his excited manner that there was not much hope of sleep for him.
13836 Indeed, his mood was infectious, for I lay tossing half the night myself, brooding over this strange problem, and inventing a hundred theories, each of which was more impossible than the last.
13837 Why had Holmes remained at Woking?
13838 Why had he asked Miss Harrison to stay in the sick-room all day?
13839 Why had he been so careful not to inform the people at Briarbrae that he intended to remain near them?
13840 I cudgelled my brains until I fell asleep in the endeavour to find some explanation which would cover all these facts.
13841 It was seven o'clock when I awoke, and I set off at once for Phelps' room, to find him haggard and spent after a sleepless night.
13842 His first question was whether Holmes had arrived yet.