d his disappointment and annoyance.

"well, well, we can't expect to have it all our own way,

watson," he said, at last. "we must come back in the

afternoon if mr. harding will not be here until then.

i am, as you have no doubt surmised, endeavouring to trace

these busts to their source, in order to find if there

is not something peculiar which may account for their

remarkable fate. let us make for mr. morse hudson, of the

kennington road, and see if he can throw any light upon the

problem."

a drive of an hour brought us to the picture-dealer's

establishment. he was a small, stout man with a red face

and a peppery manner.

"yes, sir. on my very counter, sir," said he. "what we

pay rates and taxes for i don't know, when any ruffian can

come in and break one's goods. yes, sir, it was i who

sold dr. barnicot his two statues. disgraceful, sir!

a nihilist plot, that's what i make it. no one but

an anarchist would go about breaking statues.

red republicans, that's what i call 'em. who did i get the

statues from? i don't see what that has to do with it.

well, if you really want to know, i got them from gelder

and co., in church street, stepney. they are a well-known

house in the trade, and have been this twenty years. how

many had i? three -- two and one are three -- two of dr.

barnicot's and one smashed in broad daylight on my own

counter. do i know that photograph? no, i don't. yes,

i do, though. why, it's beppo. he was a kind of italian

piece-work man, who made himself useful in the shop.

he could carve a bit and gild and frame, and do odd jobs.

the fellow left me last week, and i've heard nothing of him

since. no, i don't know where he came from nor where he

went to. i have nothing against him while he was here.

he was gone two days before the bust was smashed."

"well, that's all we could reasonably expect to get from

morse hudson," said holmes, as we emerged from the shop.

"we have this beppo as a common factor, both in kennington

and in kensington, so that is worth a ten-mile drive.

now, watson, let us make for gelder and co., of stepney,

the source and origin of busts. i shall be surprised if

we don't get some help down there."

in rapid succession we passed through the fringe of

fashionable london, hotel london, theatrical london,

literary london, commercial london, and, finally, maritime

london, till we came to a riverside city of a hundred

thousand souls, where the tenement houses swelter and reek

with the outcasts of europe. here, in a broad

thoroughfare, once the abode of wealthy city merchants, we

found the sculpture works for which we searched. outside

was a considerable yard full of monumental masonry. inside

was a large room in which fifty workers were carving or

moulding. the manager, a big blonde german, received us

civilly, and gave a clear answer to all holmes's questions.

a reference to his books showed that hundreds of casts had

been taken from a marble copy of devine's head of napoleon,

but that the three which had been sent to morse hudson a

year or so before had been half of a batch of six, the

other three being sent to harding brothers, of kensington.

there was no reason why those six should be different to

any of the other casts. he could suggest no possible cause

why anyone should wish to destroy them -- in fact, he

laughed at the idea. their wholesale price was six

shillings, but the retailer would get twelve or more. the

cast was taken in two moulds from each side of the face,

and then these two profiles of plaster of paris were joined

together to make the complete bust. the work was usually

done by italians in the room we were in. when finished the

busts were put on a table in the passage to dry, and

afterwards stored. that was all he could tell us.

but the production of the photograph had a remarkable

effect upon the manager. his face flushed with anger,

and his brows knotted over his blue teutonic eyes.

"ah, the rascal!" he cried. "yes, indeed, i know him very

well. this has always been a respectable establishment,

and the only time that we have ever had the police in it

was over this very fellow. it was more than a year ago

now. he knifed another italian in the street, and then he

came to the works with the police on his heels, and he was

taken here. beppo was his name -- his second name i never

knew. serve me right for engaging a man with such a face.

but he was a good workman, one of the best."

"what did he get?"

"the man lived and he got off with a year. i have no doubt

he is out now; but he has not dared to show his nose here.

we have a cousin of his here, and i dare say he could tell

you where he is."

"no, no," cried holmes, "not a word to the cousin -- not a

word, i beg you. the matter is very important, and the

farther i go with it the more important it se