It is all very bad."
"But surely, Holmes, character goes for something? Then, again,
why should he leave the girl in the street and dart away to
commit a felony?"
"Exactly! There are certainly objections. But it is a
formidable case which they have to meet."
Mr. Sidney Johnson, the senior clerk, met us at the office and
received us with that respect which my companion's card always
commanded. He was a thin, gruff, bespectacled man of middle age,
his cheeks haggard, and his hands twitching from the nervous
strain to which he had been subjected.
"It is bad, Mr. Holmes, very bad! Have you heard of the death of
the chief?"
"We have just come from his house."
"The place is disorganized. The chief dead, Cadogan West dead,
our papers stolen. And yet, when we closed our door on Monday
evening, we were as efficient an office as any in the government
service. Good God, it's dreadful to think of! That West, of all
men, should have done such a thing!"
"You are sure of his guilt, then?"
"I can see no other way out of it.
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