"'No, I know no one in these parts.'
     "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to him to go away.'
     "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.'
     "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn round and wave him away like that.'
     "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor seen the man in the road."
     "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a most interesting one."
     "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may prove to be little relation between the different incidents of which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving about.
     "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two planks. 'Is he not a beauty?'
     "I looked through and was cons............