Pagina 322 van 657

I hurled it out of the window, and it disappeared into the

Thames. The other clothes would have followed, but at that moment

there was a rush of constables up the stair, and a few minutes

after I found, rather, I confess, to my relief, that instead of

being identified as Mr. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his

murderer.

"I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I

was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and

hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would

be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the

Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together

with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to

fear."

"That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes.

"Good God! What a week she must have spent!"