49115    He was only a minute or so inside, and then I heard the key turn once more, and he passed me and re-entered the house.

49116    I saw him rejoin his guest and I crept quietly back to where my companions were waiting to tell them what I had seen.

49117    'You say, Watson, that the lady is not there?' Holmes asked, when I had finished my report.

49118    'No.'

49119    'Where can she be, then, since there is no light in any other room except the kitchen?'

49120    'I cannot think where she is.'

49121    I have said that over the great Grimpen Mire there hung a dense, white fog.

49122    It was drifting slowly in our direction and banked itself up like a wall on that side of us, low, but thick and well defined.

49123    The moon shone on it, and it looked like a great shimmering ice-field, with the heads of the distant tors as rocks borne upon its surface.

49124    Holmes's face was turned towards it, and he muttered impatiently as he watched its sluggish drift.

49125    'It's moving towards us, Watson.'

49126    'Is that serious?'

49127    'Very serious, indeed - the one thing upon earth which could have disarranged my plans.

49128    He can't be very long now.

49129    It is already ten o'clock.