taring at Holmes with pale faces and
frightened eyes.

'You are an impudent fellow!' cried Theresa. 'Do you mean to say that my
mistress has told a lie?'

Holmes rose from his chair.

'Have you nothing to tell me?'

'I have told you everything.'

'Think once more, Lady Brackenstall. Would it not be better to be
frank?'

For an instant there was hesitation in her beautiful face. Then some new
strong thought caused it to set like a mask.

'I have told you all I know.'

Holmes took his hat and shrugged his shoulders. 'I am sorry,' he said,
and without another word we left the room and the house. There was a
pond in the park, and to this my friend led the way. It was frozen over,
but a single hole was left for the convenience of a solitary swan.
Holmes gazed at it, and then passed on to the lodge gate. There he
scribbled a short note for Stanley Hopkins, and left it with the
lodge-keeper.

'It may be a hit, or it may be a miss, but we are bound to do something
for friend Hopkins, just to justify this second visit,' said he. 'I will
not quite take him into my confidence yet. I think our next scene of
operations must be the shipping office of the Adelaide-Southampton line,
which stands at the end of Pall Mall, if I remember right. There is a
second line of steamers which connect South Australia with England, but
we will draw the larger cover first.'

Holmes's card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention, and he
was not long in acquiring all the information he needed. In June of '95,
only one of their line had reached a home port. It was the _Rock of
Gibraltar_, their largest and best boat. A reference to the passenger
list showed that Miss Fraser, of Adelaide, with her maid had made the
voyage in her. The boat was now somewhere south of the Suez Canal on her
way to Australia. Her officers were the same as in '95, with one
exception. The first officer, Mr. Jack Crocker, had been made a captain
and was to take charge of their new ship, the _Bass Rock_, sailing in
two days' time from Southampton. He lived at Sydenham, but he was likely
to be in that morning for instructions, if we cared to wait for him.

No, Mr. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to know more
about his record and character.

His record was magnificent. There was not an officer in the fleet to
touch him. As to his character, he was reliable on duty, but a wild,
desperate fellow off the deck of his ship--hot-headed, excitab