? ? ? ?
"Yes, all."
? ? ? ?
"Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather."
? ? ? ?
"Why, what do you mean?"
? ? ? ?
For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed upon the white wrist.
? ? ? ?
"You have been cruelly used," said Holmes.
? ? ? ?
The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own strength."
? ? ? ?
There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire.
? ? ? ?
"This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide upon our course of action.
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