ned and rocked to
and fro, and wrung her hands.

'Your name's Blossom, I think,' said Holmes, evincing no sympathy whatever
with her sufferings.

'Ah's me! ah's me! I'm very old! I'm very old!' exclaimed the lady,
moaning from the very bottom of her lungs, but without making any reply to
the question.

'Hark ye,' said Holmes, in a stern tone, 'I have not sent for you, to
listen to your moaning, nor to be trifled with in any other way. You have
come here to disclose the deeds of a scoundrel; and disclose them you
_must_. You shall answer all my questions, truly, honestly, and without
equivocation, or it will be the worse for you. I am aware of offences
committed by you, which, if punished as they merit, would send you to
prison. I tell you this, that you may know exactly how we stand with
reference to each other. If you wish to serve yourself, you will find true
and prompt replies to whatever I ask. What's your name?'

Mrs. Blossom oscillated in her chair, glanced at the wall, replied
'Blossom,' and buried her face in a rag of a shawl.

'Good! Where do you live?' demanded the lawyer. The woman answered, and
Holmes wrote it down.

'Do you know a man by the name of Michael Rust?'

Mrs. Blossom's chair became very uneasy, and she was seized with a violent
cough. The lawyer waited until her cough was better, and repeated the
question, accompanying it by a look which produced an answer in the
affirmative.

'What other name did you ever know him to bear?'

Mrs. Blossom suddenly found her voice, and replied boldly: 'No other;' and
here she spoke the truth; for Rust had trusted her no farther than was
absolutely necessary.

'How long have you known him?'

Mrs. Blossom again lost her voice, but found it instantly on meeting the
eye of Holmes; and she answered bluntly, 'About four years.'

'What led to your acquaintance?'

The woman cast a shrewd suspicious glance at him, as if calculating how
far she might trifle with impunity; but there was something in his manner
that was not encouraging, and she replied, 'that she could not remember.'

Holmes laid down his pen, and pushing back his chair so that he faced her,
said in a quiet but very decided manner:

'Mrs. Blossom, you have been brought here for the purpose of giving us
such information as will enable us to do justice to a person who has been
greatly injured by this man Rust. I mention this, not because I suppose
the motive will have any great weight with yo