"I have not the heart to interrupt your breakfast any further, andyet I am dying to know how you got it and where it was."Sherlock Holmes swallowed a cup of coffee and turned his attentionto the ham and eggs. Then he rose, lit his pipe, and settled himselfdown into his chair.

　　"I'll tell you what I did first, and how I came to do itafterwards," said he. "After leaving you at the station I went for acharming walk through some admirable Surrey scenery to a pretty littlevillage called Ripley, where I had my tea at an inn and took theprecaution of filling my flask and of putting a paper of sandwiches inmy pocket. There I remained until evening, when I set off for Wokingagain and found myself in the highroad outside Briarbrae just aftersunset.

　　"Well, I waited until the road was clear-it is never a veryfrequented one at any time, I fancy-and then I clambered over thefence into the grounds."

　　"Surely the gate was open!' ejaculated Phelps.

　　"Yes, but I have a peculiar taste in these matters. I chose theplace where the three fir-trees stand, and behind their screen I gotover without the least chance of anyone in the house being able to seeme. I crouched down among the bushes on the other side and crawledfrom one to the other-witness the disreputable state of my trouserknees-until I had reached the clump of rhododendrons just oppositeto your bedroom window. There I squatted down and awaiteddevelopments.

　　"The blind was not down in your room, and I could see MissHarrison sitting there reading by the table. It was quarter-past tenwhen she closed her book, fastened the shutters, and retired."I heard her shut the door and felt quite sure that she had turnedthe key in the lock."

　　"The key!" ejaculated Phelps.

　　"Yes, I had given Miss Harrison instructions to lock the door on theoutside and take the key with her when she went to bed. She carriedout every one of my injunctions to the letter, and certainly withouther cooperation you would not have that paper in your coat-pocket. Shedeparted then and the lights went out, and I was left squatting in therhododendron-bush.

　　"The night was fine, but still it was a very weary vigil. Ofcourse it has the sort of excitement about it that the sportsman feelswhen he lies beside the water course and waits for the big game. Itwas very long, though-almost as long, Watson, as when you and I waitedin that deadly room when we looked into the little problem of theSpeckled Band. There was a church-clock down at Woking which struckthe quarters, and I thought more than once that it had stopped. Atlast, however, about two in the morning, I suddenly heard the gentlesound of a bolt being pushed back and the creaking of a key. Amoment later the servants' door was opened, and Mr. Joseph Harrisonstepped out into the moonlight."

　　"Joseph!" ejaculated Phelps.