es' to the
two coachmen, Yensen and Linescu, and we'll probably learn some more.
I've found a good many other clues on the other shoes, which I will
not divulge into your capacious ears until later. Suffice it to say,
however, that the reason I made you people walk out on the wet grass
yesterday was not because I own stock in a cough-and-cold medicine
company, as you might think, but because I wanted whatever telltale
stains there might be on the six pairs of shoes (indicating to my
trained eye where their owner had been recently) to become moistened
and to stick more firmly to the shoes, so they wouldn't dry up and get
knocked off before I could grab the shoes and inspect them. You see,
Watson, there are more ways of killing a cat than by choking it to
death with butter!"

As the sarcastic old cuss continued his lecture, he shoved all the
twelve shoes he had examined into the lower drawer of the dresser in
the room, locking it and putting the key in his pocket.

"I guess breakfast must be about ready now," said Holmes, as he
glanced at his watch; "it's twenty minutes after seven. If there's any
of that whiskey left that we found on the shelf in the lavatory
yesterday morning, I'm going to help myself to some more of it. I feel
kind of chilly after sitting up for an hour inspecting the shoes."

We washed, after Holmes had taken the chill-remedy, and were passing
down the front stairway to the lower hall on our way to the
dining-room when I suddenly thought of the consequences of our
nocturnal escapade.

"Say, Holmes," I whispered anxiously, "what'll we do when all these
people report the loss of their footgear to the Earl?"

"What'll we do, you chump? Why, sit tight and say nothing, of course.
Just leave it to your revered Uncle Dudley to deal with the situation.
I'll handle 'em, all right; and if you forget yourself so far as to
blab out where the shoes are, by Gosh, I'll decapitate you! Now,
remember!"

And Holmes squeezed my arm warningly.

Nobody else was in the dining-room yet, but just as we entered, the
rotund figure of Egbert Bunbury obtruded itself upon the otherwise
pleasant scene, and Egbert stammered:

"Oh, er,--ah, Mister 'Olmes, Hi was just going hupstairs to call you."

"Oh, you _were_, were you, Eggie," said Holmes cuttingly. "Well, I
found my way down here, and Doctor Watson also, without your kind
assistance. If I were you, I'd have him prescribe for you, as I'm
afraid you're walking in you