wled across it. What the phrase meant, or who our secret
visitor may have been, we never knew. As far as we can judge, none of
my father's property had been actually stolen, though everything had
been turned out. My brother and I naturally associated this peculiar
incident with the fear which haunted my father during his life; but it
is still a complete mystery to us."

The little man stopped to relight his hookah and puffed thoughtfully
for a few moments. We had all sat absorbed, listening to his
extraordinary narrative. At the short account of her father's death
Miss Morstan had turned deadly white, and for a moment I feared that
she was about to faint. She rallied however, on drinking a glass of
water which I quietly poured out for her from a Venetian carafe upon
the side-table. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair with an
abstracted expression and the lids drawn low over his glittering eyes.
As I glanced at him I could not but think how on that very day he had
complained bitterly of the commonplaceness of life. Here at least was
a problem which would tax his sagacity to the utmost. Mr. Thaddeus
Sholto looked from one to the other of us with an obvious pride at the
effect which his story had produced, and then continued between the
puffs of his overgrown pipe.

"My brother and I," said he, "were, as you may imagine, much excited as
to the treasure which my father had spoken of. For weeks and for
months we dug and delved in every part of the garden, without
discovering its whereabouts. It was maddening to think that the
hiding-place was on his very lips at the moment that he died. We could
judge the splendor of the missing riches by the chaplet which he had
taken out. Over this chaplet my brother Bartholomew and I had some
little discussion. The pearls were evidently of great value, and he
was averse to part with them, for, between friends, my brother was
himself a little inclined to my father's fault. He thought, too, that
if we parted with the chaplet it might give rise to gossip and finally
bring us into trouble. It was all that I could do to persuade him to
let me find out Miss Morstan's address and send her a detached pearl at
fixed intervals, so that at least she might never feel destitute."

"It was a kindly thought," said our companion, earnestly. "It was
extremely good of you."

The little man waved his hand deprecatingly. "We were your trustees,"
he said. "That was the view which I