pring of '87. The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis are too recent in t

which gave my friend an opportunity of demonstrating the value of a fresh

rain of an investigation which had extended over two months, during which period he had never worked less than fifteen hours a day and had more than once, as he assured me, kept to his task for five days at a stretch. Even the triumphant issue of his labours could not save him from reaction after so terrible an exertion, and at a time when Europe was ringing wit

ow taken a house near Reigate in Surrey and had frequently asked me to come down to him upon a visit. On the last occasion he had remarked that if my friend would only come with me he would be glad to extend his hospitality to him also. A little diplomacy was needed, but when Holmes understood that the establis

gun-room after dinner, Holmes stretched upon the sofa, while

nk I'll take one of these pistols upst

arm!"

one of our county magnates, had his house broken into last Mo

olmes, cocking his

ttle country crimes, which must seem too small for your at

iment, though his smile sho

ny feature o

side down, drawers burst open, and presses ransacked, with the result that an odd volume of Pope's Homer, two pla

dinary assortmen

tly grabbed hold of eve

unted fro

something of that," said he; "w

up a warn

or heaven's sake don't get started on a new

comic resignation towards the colonel, and the

lf upon us in such a way that it was impossible to ignore it, and our country visit took a turn which neither of us cou

s, sir?" he gasped. "At

e colonel, with his

rde

ve!" said he. "Who's killed,

e coachman. Shot through the hea

ot him,

ay. He'd just broke in at the pantry window when William c

t ti

ht, sir, somewhe

dded when the butler had gone; "he's our leading man about here, is old Cunningham, and a very decent fellow too. He'll be cut up ove

ingular collection," s

cise

ted to vary the scene of their operations, and not to crack two cribs in the same district within a few days. When you spoke last night of taking precautions I remember that it passed

hat case, of course, Acton's and Cunningham's are just the plac

ric

sucked the blood out of both of them, I fancy. Old Acton has some claim on

ifficulty in running him down," said Holmes with a

sir," said the butler,

the room. "Good-morning, Colonel," said he. "I hope I don't i

and towards my friend,

ps you would care to s

matter when you came in, Inspector. Perhaps you can let us have a few details." As h

have plenty to go on, and there's no doubt it i

A

ard William, the coachman, calling for help, and Mr. Alec ran down to see what was the matter. The back door was open, and as he came to the foot of the stairs he saw two men wrestling together outside. One of them fired a shot, the other dropped, and the murderer rushed across the garden and over the hedge. Mr. Cunningham, looking out of his bedroom,

oing there? Did he say a

to the house with the intention of seeing that all was right there. Of course this Acton business has put everyone o

ything to his mothe

hock has made her half-witted, but I understand that she was never very

n paper from a notebook and

that the hour mentioned upon it is the very time at which the poor fellow met his fate. You see that his murderer might have torn the

of paper, a facsimile of

RTER T

RN

A

iam Kirwan, though he had the reputation of being an honest man, may have been in league with the thief. He may have

oncentration. "These are much deeper waters than I had thought." He sank his head upon his hands,

he other, is an ingenious and not entirely impossible supposition. But this writing opens up -" He sank his head into his hands again and remained for some minutes in the deepest though

g in it which fascinates me extremely. If you will permit me, Colonel, I will leave my friend Watson and you, and I will ste

elapsed before the in

e field outside, said he. "He wants us a

Cunnin

s,

at

een ourselves, I think Mr. Holmes has not quite got over his illnes

lf," said I. "I have usually found t

" muttered the inspector. "But he's all on fire to st

field, his chin sunk upon his breast, and

Watson, your country trip has been a disti

scene of the crime, I und

have made quite a little

suc

hat we did as we walk. First of all, we saw the body of this unfo

doubted i

rview with Mr. Cunningham and his son, who were able to point out the exact spot where th

ural

mother. We could get no information from h

result of your

it less obscure. I think that we are both agreed, Inspector, that the fragment of paper in the dead

ive a clue,

man who brought William Kirwan out of his bed at tha

efully in the hope of find

at would he do with it? Thrust it into his pocket, most likely, never noticing that a corner of it had been left in the grip of

t the criminal's pocket be

William. The man who wrote it could not have taken it; otherwise, of course, he might have delive

William received a letter by the afternoon pos

n the postman. It is a pleasure to work with you. Well, here is the lodge,

which bears the date of Malplaquet upon the lintel of the door. Holmes and the inspector led us round it until we came to the side

the left of that bush. So did the son. They are both sure of it on account of the bush. Then Mr. Alec ran out and knelt beside the wounded man. The ground is very hard, you see, and there are no marks to guide us." As he spoke two men came down the garden path

hought you Londoners were never at fault. Yo

a little time," said H

ec Cunningham. "Why, I don't se

"We thought that if we could only find - G

ressed groan he dropped on his face upon the ground. Horrified at the suddenness and severity of the attack, we carried him into the kitchen, w

ecovered from a severe illness," he explained.

ome in my trap?" as

point on which I should like to fee

t is

illiam was not before, but after, the entrance of the burglar into the house. You app

gravely. "Why, my son Alec had not yet gone to bed, a

was he

ng in my dre

window

the left, nex

lamps were l

oubt

at a burglar - and a burglar who had some previous experience - should deliberately break int

ave been a

said young Mr. Alec. "But as to your ideas that the man had robbed the house before William tackled him, I thin

ry peculiar fellow, and who appears to work on lines of his own. Look, for example, at the queer lot of things which

aid old Cunningham. "Anything which you or the in

als may take a little time before they would agree upon the sum, and these things cannot be done too promptly.

slip of paper and the pencil which Holmes handed to him. "This is

t rather h

ne on Tuesday morning an attempt was made,' and so on

had shaken him, and this one little incident was enough to show me that he was still far from being himself. He was obviously embarrassed for an instant, while

ssible," he said; "I think yo

f paper carefully awa

d all go over the house together and make certain that this rather

t was evident that a chisel or strong knife had been thrust in, and the lock for

se bars, the

ver found i

n't kee

ained on the other

e servants

ut t

lliam was usually in

es

ave been up. Now, I should be very glad if you would have

amental stair which came up from the front hall. Out of this landing opened the drawing-room and several bedrooms, including those of Mr. Cunningham and his son. Holmes walked slowly, taking ke

hat is my room at the end of the stairs, and my son's is the one beyond it. I leave it to you

fresh scent, I fancy," said the s

his, I understand, is your son's room" - he pushed open the door - "and that, I presume is the dressing-room in which he sat smoking when the ala

satisfied now?" said

nk I have seen al

lly necessary we c

not too mu

lmes fell back until he and I were the last of the group. Near the foot of the bed stood a dish of oranges and a carafe of water. As we passed it Holmes, to my unutterable astonis

said he coolly. "A pretty me

nding for some reason my companion desired me to take the blame upon

he inspector, "w

had dis

m. "The fellow is off his head, in my opinion. Co

aving the inspector, the colone

er Alec," said the official. "It may be the eff

inarticulate shouting, came from the room which we had first visited. I dashed in, and on into the dressing-room beyond. The two Cunninghams were bending over the prostrate figure of Sherlock Holmes, the younger clutching

men, Inspect

hat c

g their coachman,

ent. "Oh, come now, Mr. Holmes," said he at

t their faces!" c

gly marked face. The son, on the other hand, had dropped all that jaunty, dashing style which had characterized him, and the ferocity of a dangerous wild beast gleamed

absurd mistake, but you can see that Ah, would you? drop it!" He struck out with his hand, a

"you will find it useful at the trial. But this is what we

f the sheet!" cr

cise

here w

at you and Watson might return now, and I will be with you again in an hour at the furthest. The insp

colonel's smoking-room. He was accompanied by a little elderly gentleman, who was int

es, "for it is natural that he should take a keen interest in the details. I am afraid, my

permitted to study your methods of working. I confess that they quite surpass my expectations, an

Watson or from anyone who might take an intelligent interest in them. But, first, as I am rather shaken by the knocking about which I

no more of those

ccount of the case before you in its due order, showing you the various points which guided me

ich vital. Otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated instead of being concentrated. Now, in this case there was not the sl

ot he, it must have been Alec Cunningham himself, for by the time that the old man had descended several servants were upon the scene. The point is a simple one, but the inspector had overlooked it because he had started with the supposition that these county magnates had had nothi

had submitted to us. It was at once clear to me that it formed part of a very remark

rregular look,"

the strong t's of 'at' and 'to,' and ask you to compare them with the weak ones of 'quarter' and 'twelve,' you will instantly recognize the fact. A very brief analysis

the colonel. "Why on earth should two

s determined that, whatever was done, each should have an equal hand in it. Now, of t

you get

me to the conclusion that the man with the stronger hand wrote all his words first, leaving blanks for the other to fill up. These blanks were not always sufficient, and you can see that the second man

t!" cried

ne can place a man in his true decade with tolerable confidence. I say normal cases, because ill-health and physical weakness reproduce the signs of old age, even when the invalid is a youth. In this case, looking at the bold, strong hand of the one,

" cried Mr.

e there are many small points which indicate the same thing. I have no doubt at all that a family mannerism can be traced in these two specimens of writing. I am only, of course, giving you the leading results now of my examinat

rom a revolver at the distance of something over four yards. There was no powder blackening on the clothes. Evidently, therefore, Alec Cunningham had lied when he said that the two men were struggling when the shot was fired. Again, both father and son agreed as to the place where the man escaped

. Acton's. I understood, from something which the colonel told us, that a lawsuit had been going on between you, Mr. Acton, and the Cunninghams. Of course,

earest claim upon half of their present estate, and if they could have found a single paper - which,

rried off whatever they could lay their hands upon. That is all clear enough, but there was much that was still obscure. What I wanted, above all, was to get the missing part of that note. I was certain that Alec had torn it out of the dead man's hand,

not be reminded of the existence of this paper otherwise they would naturally destroy it without delay. The inspector was about to tell them th

ing, "do you mean to say all our sympath

ed I, looking in amazement at this man who was foreve

vice which had perhaps some little merit of ingenuity, to get old Cunningham to wri

ss I have been

g a table, to engage their attention for the moment and slipped back to examine the pockets. I had hardly got the paper, however - which was, as I had expected, in one of them - when the two Cunninghams were on me, and would, I verily believe, have murdered me then and there but for your prompt and f

ing. It seems that William had secretly followed his two masters on the night when they made their raid upon Mr. Acton's and, having thus got them into his power, proceeded, under threats of exposure, to levy blackmail upon them. Mr. Alec, however, was a dangerous man to play games of that sort with. It was a stroke of positive genius on his p

note?"

laced the subjoin

LL ONLY C

AST GATE

MUCH SURPR

TEST SERVICE T

SON. BUT SAY N

THE M

ws that the trap was skilfully baited. I am sure that you cannot fail to be delighted with the traces of heredity shown in the p's and in the tails of the g's. The absence of the i-dots in the old man'