But I reckon she is pretty old, and old people don't often outlive the cautious pace of the professional detective when he has got his
clues together and is out on his still-hunt.
All this seems strange to you," continued Holmes, "because you failed at the beginning of the inquiry to grasp the importance of the single real
clue which was presented to you.
I tried to get him to talk about the past few days, for any
clue to his thoughts would be of immense help to me, but he would not rise.
I rang for the tea, and the waiter, reappearing with his magic
clue, brought in by degrees some fifty adjuncts to that refreshment but of tea not a glimpse.
It will amount to this: If we have the
clue you talk about, I fit out a ship in Bristol dock, and take you and Hawkins here along, and I'll have that treasure if I search a year.
Since then every year upon the same date there has always appeared a similar box, containing a similar pearl, without any
clue as to the sender.
Again she dipped in the drawer, seeking the
clue among the cherished fragments of her mother's hidden soul.
They little thought that it was merely the selfish expression of his disappointment, that he had thus lost the only remaining
clue to an interesting piece of family history--one which was now and would be for ever wrapped in mystery.
I looked at her mouth for an expression that could give me a
clue to what she felt; I watched her eyes for some tell-tale flash, some hint of dismay or bitterness; I scanned her brow for any passing line that might indicate a settling emotion.
This must not be, if the
clue that leads through the windings of the story is to remain from end to end untangled in my hands.
There is nothing to be learned from that rhyme," said Sancho, "unless by that
clue there's in it, one may draw out the ball of the whole matter.
It's quite on the cards, sir," he said, "that you have put the
clue into our hands.
