"He must be careful in case there is someone more clever than he is on his track. You must lock yourself away from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our time, so please take us at once to the rooms which we need to look at."

The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central part and two curving wings on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in. The central part of the house was not much better, but the right-hand part was quite modern. The curtains in the windows, and the blue smoke from the chimneys showed that this was where the family lived. Some scaffolding had been put up against the end wall, and the wall had been broken, but there were no workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and down the lawn and carefully examined the outsides of the windows.