? ? ? ? "Yes, I have been using myself up rather too freely," he remarked, in answer to my look rather than to my words; "I have been a little pressed of late. Have you any objection to my closing your shutters?"
? ? ? ? The only light in the room came from the lamp upon the table at which I had been reading. Holmes edged his way round the wall, and, flinging the shutters together, he bolted them securely.
? ? ? ? "You are afraid of something?" I asked.
? ? ? ? "Well, I am."
? ? ? ? "Of what?"
? ? ? ? "Of air-guns."
? ? ? ? "My dear Holmes, what do you mean?"
? ? ? ? "I think that you know me well enough. Watson. to understand that I am by no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you. Might I trouble you for a match?" He drew in the smoke of his cigarette as if the soothing influence was grateful to him.
? ? ? ? "I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and I must further beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave your house presently by scrambling over your back garden wall.
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