either mad or dead before morning.  You won't put me alone into a
cell, sir? For pity's sake don't, and may you be treated in your
day of agony as you treat me now.' 

"What is the meaning of it, Watson?" said Holmes solemnly as he
laid down the paper.  "What object is served by this circle of
misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else
our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.  But what
end? There is the great standing perennial problem to which
human reason is as far from an answer as ever." 

End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Adventure of the Cardboard Box