Mexico weekly ledger., 1894-01-11
it brought those two individuals to
the house,

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the house,
THAT seems simple enough" said L;
''but how about the other mans
height2"
"Why, the height of a man, in nine
cases out of ten, can be told from the
length of his stride. 1t is a simple
calculation enough though there is no
use my boring you with figures. l
had this fellows stride. both on the
clay outside and on the dust within.
Then | had a way of checking my cal
wall, his instinct leads him to write
about the level of his own eyes. Now,
that writing was just over six feet
from the ground. 1t was child's play"
And his age?" l asked.
"Well, if a man can stride four and
a half feet without the smallest effort,
he can't be quite in the sere and yell
low That was the breadth of a puddle
on the garden walk which he had
evidently walked across. Patent.
leather boots had gone round and
Square-toes had hoped over. There
is no mystery about it at all. l am
simply applying to ordinary life a few
of those precepts of observation and
deduction which l advocated in that
article. Is there anything else that
puzzles you?"
1.-THE finger-nails and the Trichinop-
oly," I suggested.
1.-THE writing on the wall was done
with a mans forefinger dipped in blood.
My glass allowed me to observe that
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doing it, which would not have been
the case if the mans nail had been.
trimmed. / gathered up some scat
tered ash from the floor. 1t was dark
in color and fiaky--such an ash as is
only made by a Triehinopoly. l have
made a special study of cigar ashes
in fact, / have written a monograph
upon h subject. I iatter myself that
I can distinguish at a glance the ash of
any known brand either of cigar or of
tobacco. 1t is just in such details that
the skilled detective differs from the
Gregson and Lestrade type"
and the fiorid face?" | asked.
"Ah, that was a more daring shot,
though l have no doubt that / was
right. You must not ask me that at
the present state of the affair.""
L passed my hand over my brow.
"My head is in a whirl," / remarked;
"the moro one thinks of it the more
mysterious it grows. How came these
two men-if there were two men-into
an empty house? What has become of
the cabman who drove them? How
could one man compel another to take
| poison? Where did the blood come
from? What was the object of the
murderer, since robbery had 10 part in
it? How came the woman's ring there?
| Above all, why should the second man
write up the German word "rache" be-
fore decamping? / confess that I can
not see any possible way of reconciling
ali these facts"
My companion smiled approvingly.
You sum up the difficulties of the
situation succinctly and WELL" he said.
There is much that is still obscure,
though l have quite made up my mind
on the main facts. As to poor Les
trades discovery it was simply a blind
intended to put the police upon a wrong
track, by suggesting socialism and
secret societies. 1t was not done by a
German. The A, if you noticed, was
printed somewhat after the German
fashion. Now a real German invaria-
bly, prints in the Latin character, so
that we may safely say that this was
not written by one, but by a clumsy
imitator, who overdid his part. 1t was
simply a ruse to divert inquiry into a
wrong channel. I'm not going to tell
you much more of the case, doctor.
You know a conjurer gets no credit
when nee he has explained his trick,
and if l show you too much of my
method of working, you will come to
the conclusion that I am a very ordinary
individual after all"
II shall never do that I answered.;
you have brought detection as e a
an exact science as it ever viii be
brought in this world"
My companion flushed up with pleas
ure at my words and the earnest way
in which l uttered them. l had al
ready observed that he was as sensitive
to f~iattery on the score of his art as any
girl could be of her beauty.
I'll tell you one other thing" he
said. "Patent-leathers and Square
toes came in the same cab, and they
walked down the pathway together as
friendly as possible-arm-in-arm, in all
probability. When they got inside
they walked up and down the room
or rather, Patent-leathers stood still
while Square-toes walked up and
down. l could read all hat in the
dust; and l could read that, as he
walked, he grew more and more ex-
cited. That is shown by the increased
length of his strides. He was talking
all the while, and working himself up,
no doubt, into a fury. Then the
tragedy occurred. I've told you all 1
know m, self, now, for the rest is mere
surmise and conjecture. We nave a
good working basis, however, on which
to start. We must hurry up, for I
want to go to Halle's concert, to hear
Norman Neruda, this afternoon"
This conversation had occurred while
our cab had been threading it's way
through a long succession of dingy
streets and dreary by-ways. In the
dingiest and dreariest of them our
driver suddenly came to a stand.
"That's Audley court in there he
said, pointing to a narrow slit in the
line of dead-colored brick. you'll
find me here when you come back"
AudleyCcourt was not an attractive
locality. The narrow passage led us
into a quadrangle paved with flags and
lined by sordid dwellings. We picked
u way among groups OF dirty chill
dren and through lines of d~iscolored
linen until we came to No. 46. the
door of which was decorated with a
small slip of brass, on which the name
Rance was engraved. On inquiry we
found that the constable was in bed,
and we were shown into a little front
parlor, to await his coming.
He appeared presently, looking a lit
tie irritable at being disturbed in his
slumbers. Il made my report at the
office" he said.
Holmes took a ha1f-sovereign from
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