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"Won't it ring?"

"No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting.

You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where

the little opening for the ventilator is."

"How very absurd! I never noticed that before."

"Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are

one or two very singular points about this room. For example,

what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another

room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated

with the outside air!"

"That is also quite modern," said the lady.

"Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes.

"Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that

time."

"They seem to have been of a most interesting character-dummy

bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your

permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into

the inner apartment."