? ? ? ? "How can you say that?"
? ? ? ? "Because I have seen him, Mr. Holmes. It was on that second night. Sir Robert turned and passed us -- me and Stephens, quaking in the bushes like two bunny-rabbits, for there was a bit of moon that night. But we could hear the other moving about behind. We were not afraid of him. So we up when Sir Robert was gone and pretended we were just having a walk like in the moonlight, and so we came right on him as casual and innocent as you please. 'Hullo, mate! who may you be?' says I. I guess he had not heard us coming, so he looked over his shoulder with a face as if he had seen the devil coming out of hell. He let out a yell, and away he went as hard as he could lick it in the darkness. He could run! -- I'll give him that. In a minute he was out of sight and hearing, and who he was, or what he was, we never found."
? ? ? ? "But you saw him clearly in the moonlight?"
? ? ? ? "Yes, I would swear to his yellow face -- a mean dog, I should say. What could he have in common with Sir Robert?"
? ? ? ? Holmes sat for some time lost in thought.
? ? ? ? "Who keeps Lady Beatrice Falder company?" he asked at last.
? ? ? ? "There is her maid, Carrie Evans. She has been with her this five years.
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