CHAPTER XVII

THE WOMAN WITH THE BASKET


Deep in thought respecting the inexplicable nature of this latest
mystery, I turned in the direction of the bridge, and leaving behind
me an ever-swelling throng at the gate of Wyatt's Buildings,
proceeded westward.

The death of the dwarf had lifted the case into the realms of the
marvellous, and I noted nothing of the bustle about me, for mentally
I was still surveying that hunched-up body which had fallen out of
empty space.

Then in upon my preoccupation burst a woman's scream!

I aroused myself from reverie, looking about to right and left.
Evidently I had been walking slowly, for I was less than a hundred
yards from Wyatt's Buildings, and hard by the entrance to an
uninviting alley from which I thought the scream had proceeded.

And as I hesitated, for I had no desire to become involved in a
drunken brawl, again came the shrill scream: "Help! help!"

I cannot say if I was the only passer-by who heard the cry;