ll, all I can say is that if there's any
secret here it is not my secret, and I am not the man to give it away."

"Well, if you take that line, Mr. Barker," said the inspector quietly,
"we must just keep you in sight until we have the warrant and can hold
you."

"You can do what you damn please about that," said Barker defiantly.

The proceedings seemed to have come to a definite end so far as he was
concerned; for one had only to look at that granite face to realize
that no peine forte et dure would ever force him to plead against his
will. The deadlock was broken, however, by a woman's voice. Mrs.
Douglas had been standing listening at the half opened door, and now
she entered the room.

"You have done enough for now, Cecil," said she. "Whatever comes of it
in the future, you have done enough."

"Enough and more than enough," remarked Sherlock Holmes gravely. "I
have every sympathy with you, madam, and should strongly urge you to
have some confidence in the common sense of our jurisdiction and to
take the police voluntarily into your complete confidence. It may be
that I am myself at fault for not following up the hint which you
conveyed to me through my friend, Dr. Watson; but, at that time I had
every reason to believe that you were directly concerned in the crime.
Now I am assured that this is not so. At the same time, there is much
that is unexplained, and I should strongly recommend that you ask Mr.
Douglas to tell us his own story."

Mrs. Douglas gave a cry of astonishment at Holmes's words. The
detectives and I must have echoed it, when we were aware of a man who
seemed to have emerged from the wall, who advanced now from the gloom
of the corner in which he had appeared. Mrs. Douglas turned, and in an
instant her arms were round him. Barker had seized his outstretched
hand.

"It's best this way, Jack," his wife repeated; "I am sure that it is
best."

"Indeed, yes, Mr. Douglas," said Sherlock Holmes, "I am sure that you
will find it best."

The man stood blinking at us with the dazed look of one who comes from
the dark into the light. It was a remarkable face, bold gray eyes, a
strong, short-clipped, grizzled moustache, a square, projecting chin,
and a humorous mouth. He took a good look at us all, and then to my
amazement he advanced to me and handed me a bundle of paper.

"I've heard of you," said he in a voice which was not quite English and
not quite American, but was altogether mellow and pleas