was all crinkled and puckered like a withered apple.

"'"Just walk on a little way, dear," said Mrs. Barclay; "I want to have
a word with this man. There is nothing to be afraid of." She tried to
speak boldly, but she was still deadly pale and could hardly get her
words out for the trembling of her lips.

"'I did as she asked me, and they talked together for a few minutes.
Then she came down the street with her eyes blazing, and I saw the
crippled wretch standing by the lamp-post and shaking his clenched fists
in the air as if he were mad with rage. She never said a word until we
were at the door here, when she took me by the hand and begged me to
tell no one what had happened.

"'"It's an old acquaintance of mine who has come down in the world,"
said she. When I promised her I would say nothing she kissed me, and I
have never seen her since. I have told you now the whole truth, and if
I withheld it from the police it is because I did not realize then the
danger in which my dear friend stood. I know that it can only be to her
advantage that everything should be known.'

"There was her statement, Watson, and to me, as you can imagine, it was
like a light on a dark night. Everything which had been disconnected
before began at once to assume its true place, and I had a shadowy
presentiment of the whole sequence of events. My next step obviously was
to find the man who had produced such a remarkable impression upon Mrs.
Barclay. If he were still in Aldershot it should not be a very difficult
matter. There are not such a very great number of civilians, and a
deformed man was sure to have attracted attention. I spent a day in the
search, and by evening--this very evening, Watson--I had run him down.
The man's name is Henry Wood, and he lives in lodgings in this same
street in which the ladies met him. He has only been five days in the
place. In the character of a registration-agent I had a most interesting
gossip with his landlady. The man is by trade a conjurer and performer,
going round the canteens after nightfall, and giving a little
entertainment at each. He carries some creature about with him in that
box; about which the landlady seemed to be in considerable trepidation,
for she had never seen an animal like it. He uses it in some of his
tricks according to her account. So much the woman was able to tell me,
and also that it was a wonder the man lived, seeing how twisted he was,
and that he spoke in a strange tongue