"I see."

"And have a friend on the spot who promises to recommend me."

"Are workmen wanted there?"

"A good one, very much."

"I'm sure you'll fill the bill."

"I shall try to, sir."

"But for the risk you run of being recognized, I should bet on you,
Sweetwater."

"I know; people will not forget the unfortunate shape of my nose."

"You were up and down the museum for hours. He must know your face like a
book."

"It can't be helped, I shall keep out of sight as much as possible
whenever he is around. I am an expert workman in the line wanted. I
understand my trade, and he will see that I do and doubt his eyes rather
than stretch probabilities to the point of connecting me with the Force.
Besides, I get quite another expression when my hands get in touch with
the wood; and I can look a man in the eye, if I have to, without a quiver
of self-consciousness. His will drop before mine will."

"Your name as carpenter?"

"Jacob Shott. It's the name by which Holmes already knows me."

"Well, well, the game may be worth the candle. You can soon tell. I will
keep you posted."

The rest was business with which we need not concern ourselves.

BOOK III

STORM IN THE MOUNTAINS

XVI

FRIENDS

A shaded walk, with a glimpse of sea beyond, embowering trees, a stretch
of lawn on one side, and on the other the dormer windows of a fine old
house half hidden by scaffolding, from which there came now and then the
quick strokes of a workman's hammer.

It was half-past four, if the sharp little note of a cuckoo-clock,
snapping out one, told the time correctly.

Two men are pacing this leafy retreat, both of whom we have seen before,
but under circumstances so distracting that we took little note of their
appearance, fine as it undoubtedly was in either case. However, we are
more at leisure now, and will pause for an instant to give you some idea
of these two prominent men, with one of whom our story will henceforth
have very much to do.

One of them--the Curator of our famous museum--lacks comeliness of
figure, though at moments he can be very impressive. We can therefore
recognize him at a distance by means of a certain ungainliness of
stride sometimes seen in a man wholly given over to intellectual
pursuits. But when he turns and you get a glimpse of his face, you
experience at once the scope of mind and charm of spirit which make his
countenance a marked one in the metropolis. A little gray about