" 'Well, she flew into one of her agitated fits when she saw her brother. Dr. Stanley had to give her a sedative before the nurses could get her bundled into the clothes he'd brought. Her coat, by the way, had an American label, so that fit. I took his address and sent them off in a hansom.'

'You didn't go with them to see Miss Sacker safely bestowed in Camberwell?' I asked.

'You're out there, Mr. Holmes,' said Lestrade with a chuckle. 'Though it seemed to me that he was more in need of protection than she. She got to be a bit of a wildcat there for a while. But they're not in Camberwell; they're in a rooming house in Hammersmith. You can't expect to be right in every little detail all the time, you know.'

By this time I should have had alarm bells going off in my brain; but I was slow, Watson, culpably slow. I think I'm getting too old for this sort of work. Senile softening of the brain. I contented myself with taking down the address and sent him on his way, pleased with having the matter off his hands. I had planned to go see the new production of Faust at Covent Garden tonight, but that voice in the back of my brain sent me off to Hammersmith instead. I thought I'd just drop by and see Miss Sacker, perhaps apologize for my rather cavalier approach to her problems this morning, any excuse would do. When I got to the address this fellow had given Lestrade, it turned out to be a solicitor's office, sandwiched between a pub and a chemist's. You can imagine I felt pretty sick. I rang Lestrade up from the nearest Exchange-I sincerely hope I got him out of the bath-and fairly screamed at him to get himself and his people down to Camberwell. I've had four clients murdered in my career, as you know, Watson, and I had no desire to repeat the experience. I jumped back into my cab and dashed back to Baker Street, intending to follow on to the Yard. When I got home I found to my profound astonishment Mrs. Hudson in near hysterics, a cabman threatening to call the law, and this lady-dare I call her my client? her name is certainly not Violet Sacker-bleeding in the front hall.