'Wrong entirely. I neither wrote any telegram, nor spoke any message,
since I left London.'
'Ah, no,' cried Doyle. 'I see where I went astray. You merely inquired
the way to my house.'
'I needed to make no inquiries. I followed the rear light of the
automobile part way up the hill, and, when that disappeared, I turned
to the right instead of the left, as there was no one out on such a
night from whom I could make inquiry.'
'My deductions, then, are beside the mark,' said Doyle hoarsely, in an
accent which sent cold chills up and down the spine of his invited
guest, but conveyed no intimation of his fate to the self-satisfied
later arrival.
'Of course they were,' said Holmes, with exasperating self-assurance.
'Am I also wrong in deducting that you have had nothing to eat since
you left London?'
'No, you are quite right there.'
'Well, oblige me by pressing that electric button.'
Holmes did so with much eagerness, but, although the trio waited some
minutes in silence, there was no response.
'I deduct from that,' said Doyle, 'that the servants have gone to bed.
After I have quite satisfied all your claims in the way of hunger for
food and gold, I shall take you back in my motor car, unless you
prefer to stay here the night.
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