Short Stories
in a position then to indicate some course of action. Meanwhile,
you change nothing—nothing at all."
"Very good, Mr. Holmes."
"You can be perfectly easy in your mind. We shall certainly
find some way out of your difficulties. I will take the black clay
with me, also the pencil cuttings. Good-bye."
When we were out in the darkness of the quadrangle, we
again looked up at the windows. The Indian still paced his room.
The others were invisible.
"Well, Watson, what do you think of it?" Holmes asked, as we
came out into the main street. "Quite a little parlour game—sort
of three-card trick, is it not? There are your three men. It must be
one of them. You take your choice. Which is yours?"
"The foul-mouthed fellow at the top. He is the one with the
worst record. And yet that Indian was a sly fellow also. Why
should he be pacing his room all the time?"
"There is nothing in that. Many men do it when they are try-
ing to learn anything by heart."
"He looked at us in a queer way."
"So would you, if a flock of strangers came in on you when
you were preparing for an examination next day, and every mo-
ment was of value. No, I see nothing in that. Pencils, too, and
knives—all was satisfactory. But that fellow DOES puzzle me."
"Who?"
"Why, Bannister, the servant. What's his game in the matter?"
"He impressed me as being a perfectly honest man."
60