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It was damp, marshy ground, as is all that district, and there

were marks of many feet, both upon the path and amid the short

grass which bounded it on either side. Sometimes Holmes would

hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and once he made quite a little

detour into the meadow. Lestrade and I walked behind him, the

detective indifferent and contemptuous, while I watched my friend

with the interest which sprang from the conviction that every one

of his actions was directed towards a definite end.