"Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so.We have shared the same room for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the same cell.You know, Watson, I don't mind confessing to you that I have always had an idea that I would have made a highly efficient criminal.This is the chance of my lifetime in that direction.See here!" He took a neat little leather case out of a drawer, and opening it he exhibited a number of shining instruments."This is a first-class, up-to-date burgling kit, with nickel-plated jemmy, diamond-tipped glass-cutter, adaptable keys, and every modern improvement which the march of civilization demands.Here, too, is my dark lantern.
Everything is in order.Have you a pair of silent shoes?""I have rubber-soled tennis shoes."
"Excellent.And a mask?"
"I can make a couple out of black silk."
"I can see that you have a strong natural turn for this sort of thing.Very good; do you make the masks.We shall have some cold supper before we start.It is now nine-thirty.At eleven we shall drive as far as Church Row.It is a quarter of an hour's walk from there to Appledore Towers.We shall be at work before midnight.Milverton is a heavy sleeper and retires punctually at ten-thirty.With any luck we should be back here by two, with the Lady Eva's letters in my pocket."Holmes and I put on our dress-clothes, so that we might appear to be two theatre-goers homeward bound.In Oxford Street we picked up a hansom and drove to an address in Hampstead.
Here we paid off our cab, and with our great-coats buttoned up, for it was bitterly cold and the wind seemed to blow through us, we walked along the edge of the Heath.
"It's a business that needs delicate treatment," said Holmes.