Never mind for the present what those conclusions are, Mr.Betteredge.

I haven't brought you out here to draw me like a badger; I have brought you out here to ask for some information.

You might have given it to me no doubt, in the house, instead of out of it.

But doors and listeners have a knack of getting together; and, in my line of life, we cultivate a healthy taste for the open air." Who was to circumvent THIS man?
I gave in--and waited as patiently as I could to hear what was coming next.
"We won't enter into your young lady's motives," the Sergeant went on; "we will only say it's a pity she declines to assist me, because, by so doing, she makes this investigation more difficult than it might otherwise have been.

We must now try to solve the mystery of the smear on the door--which, you may take my word for it, means the mystery of the Diamond also--in some other way.