on the back, and five small orange pips. 'You see?' he
said. 'It comes from East London, and it says "Put the
papers in the garden". Those are the words that were
in the letter to my father.'
'So what did you do next?' asked Holmes.
'Nothing,' answered Openshaw. He put his head in
his hands. 'I don't know what to do. I'm afraid.'
'Nothing?' cried Holmes. 'Young man, you must do
something fast. You're in danger!'
'Well,' I've talked to the police,' said Openshaw
unhappily. 'But they laughed at me. They think that
there's nothing to worry about.'
'How stupid they are!' cried Holmes. 'And why
didn't you come to me immediately? Your enemies
have had almost two days to make a plan. Haven't you
found anything which will help us?'
'Well, I found this in the locked room,' said John
Openshaw. He showed us a small, half-burnt piece of
paper. 'It was with my uncle's papers. It's his writing.
Look, it says:
March 7th 1869 Sent the pips to three people,
Brown, Robinson and Williams.
March 9th Brown left.
March 10th Williams left.
March 12th Visited Robinson and finished business
with him.
'Thank you,' said Sherlock Holmes. 'And now you