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Page 122
"Of coming to conclusions too rapidly."
"Then go to London and test your conclusions."
"Your advice is very excellent, Miss Harrison," said
Holmes, rising. "I think, Watson, we cannot do
better. Do not allow yourself to indulge in false
hopes, Mr. Phelps. The affair is a very tangled one."
"I shall be in a fever until I see you again," cried
the diplomatist.
"Well, I'll come out be the same train to-morrow,
though it's more than likely that my report will be a
negative one."
"God bless you for promising to come," cried our
client. "It gives me fresh life to know that
something is being done. By the way, I have had a
letter from Lord Holdhurst."
"Ha! What did he say?"
"He was cold, but not harsh. I dare say my severe
illness prevented him from being that. He repeated
that the matter was of the utmost importance, and
added that no steps would be taken about my future--by
which he means, of course, my dismissal--until my
health was restored and I had an opportunity of
repairing my misfortune."
"Well, that was reasonable and considerate," said
Holmes. "Come, Watson, for we have a good day's work
before us in town."
Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and
we were soon whirling up in a Portsmouth train.
Holmes was sunk in profound thought, and hardly opened
his mouth until we had passed Clapham Junction.
"It's a very cheery thing to come into London by any
of these lines which run high, and allow you to look
down upon the houses like this."
I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid
enough, but he soon explained himself.
"Look at those big, isolated clumps of building rising
up above the slates, like brick islands in a
lead-colored sea."
"The board-schools."
"Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future!
Capsules with hundreds of bright little seeds in each,
out of which will spring the wise, better England of
the future. I suppose that man Phelps does not
drink?"
"I should not think so."
"Nor should I, but we are bound to take every
possibility into account. The poor devil has
certainly got himself into very deep water, and it's a
question whether we shall ever be able to get him
ashore. What did you think of Miss Harrison?"
"A girl of strong character."
"Yes, but she is a good sort, or I am mistaken. She
and her brother are the only children of an
iron-master somewhere up Northumberland way. He got
engaged to her when traveling last winter, and she
came down to be introduced to his people, with her
brother as escort. Then came the smash, and she
stayed on to nurse her lover, while brother Joseph,
finding himself pretty snug, stayed on too. I've been
making a few independent inquiries, you see. But
to-day must be a day of inquiries."
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