heese that you call Letstrayed, of course. I suppose his ancestor
must have got the name Letstrayed because he was let stray away from
some asylum for the feeble-minded. Look, here he is now! Speak of the
devil and he appears, darned if he don't!"

It was indeed the slow-moving and ponderous Inspector Barnabas
Letstrayed that loomed up in the doorway and inquired about the
cuff-buttons, while Holmes answered him very sharply:

"Wake up and come to life, old General Incompetence! All the eleven
shiners have now been run down and captured before they could bite
anybody, by me, you understand, me,--your ancient rival!"

"Well, er--ah, I suppose I shall have to send in a formal report to
Scotland Yard about it, then, so the authorities will have official
cognizance of the matter," said Letstrayed, as he scratched his
somewhat thick head.

At this moment, the bell rang, and Egbert the first footman, answering
it, brought in a telegram from Scotland Yard, which Letstrayed had
just mentioned, and handed it to him. Holmes snatched it out of his
hand, tore it open, and hastily read it to the crowd:

INSPECTOR BARNABAS LETSTRAYED,
NORMANSTOW TOWERS, SURREY,

Have you found Puddingham's cuff-buttons yet? Answer.

O. U. DOOLITTLE,
CHIEF OF SCOTLAND YARD.

"Wouldn't that knock the specs off your grandmother's nose?" sneered
Holmes.

He hurriedly scrawled a reply, which he gave to the waiting messenger
outside the front door, while Letstrayed fumed and stammered in
protest.

This was the sarcastic message my partner sent back to London:

O. U. DOOLITTLE (well-named),
CHIEF OF SCOTLAND YARD, LONDON,

No, of course not. How could he, when I grabbed them all?
Now roll over and go to sleep again.

HEMLOCK HOLMES.

We all gave it up, and willingly joined the masterful dictator of the
castle in the billiard-room on the fourth floor, where we played pool
and billiards until the evening shadows fell and Donald the second
footman came in and announced dinner.

The dinner passed off without excitement, except for the Earl's rising
and proposing the health of Hemlock Holmes, which was responded to
enthusiastically by all present except Letstrayed, who insisted on
saying "we" instead of "you" when speaking to Holmes about the credit
for the recovery of the gems. After dinner we adjourne