The Press., 1895-02-21
C,HA pd, "

hailed cab and olt!ef1d the driver to take us to the address given us by Le- strade.
 s'There is nothing like first hand evil dence, " he remarked As matter of fact, my mind is entirely made up on the case, but still we may as we'll learn all that is to be learned y
 ''You amaze me, Holmes, , said L ''Surely you are not as sure as you pre- tend to be of all those particulars which you gaye.i
 There's no room for mistake" he answered. "The very first thing which observed on arriving there was that a cab had made two ruts with its wheels close to the curb. Now up to last night we had no rain for week, so that those wheels, which left such deep impress sion, must have been there during the night There were the marks of the horses hoofs, too, the outline of one of which was far more clearly cut than that of the other three, showing that that was Q new shoe. Since the cab was there after the rain began and was not there at any time during the morning have Gregson's word for that-it fol- lows that it must have been there dur ing the night, and, therefore, that it brought those two individuals to the house."
 ''That seems simple enough" said I; ''but how about the other mans height?'
 "Why, the height of man ill nine cases out of ten can be told from the length of his stride. It is simple cal culation enough, though there is no use my boring you with figures. had this fellows stride both on the clay outside and on the dust within. Then had a 1 way of checking my calculation. When man writes on 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. It was child's play"
 ''AHd his age?" I asked.
 "Well, if a man can stride 4 115 feet without the slightest effort, he can't be quite in the sere and yellow. That was I the breadth of puddle on the garden l walk which he had evidently walked across. Patent leather boots had gone around, and square toes had hOpped over. There is no mystery about it at | all. am simply applying to ordinary life few of those precepts of observa- tion and deduction which I advocated ill that article. Is there anything else that puzzles you?'
 ''The finger nails and the Trichinop- 1 oly, "- l suggested.
 ''The writing on the wall was done with mans forefnger dipped in blood. My glass, allowed me to observe that i the plaster was slightly scratched ill doing it, which would not have been l the case if the mans nail had been trimmed; I gathered up some scattered ash from the floor. It was dark in colo1 and flaky, such an ash as is only made by Tricllinopoly. I have made study of cigar ashes-in fact, have writer monograph upon the subject. fiat ter myself that can distinguish at g glance the ash of any known brand either of cigar or of tobacco It is just in such details that the skilled detective I differs from the Gregson and Lestrade type. ''
 "And the forid face?" asked.
 'tAh, that was more daring shot though I nave no doubt that was right You must not ask me that at the pres ont state of the affair. '
 passed my hand over my brow, My head is in a whirl, [ remarked The more one tlainkaof fl tho nor. fous it grows How caine tllss tsIo liis1 if ttill6Fa were two men 2. an empty h0ttse What has hculna e the cabman who drove them? How coulG one man compel another to take poison Where did the blood come from? Wha was the object of the murderer, sine, robbery had no part in it? How cam, the woman s ring there? Above all, wh, should the second man write up th' German word 'Rache' before decamp ing? confess cannot see any possible way of reconciling all these facts. ,"
 My companion smiled approvingly.
 ''You sum up the difficulties of thu situation succinct1y and we'll, 7" he said 'There is much that is still obscure though have quite made up my minC on the main facts. As to poor Lestrade' discovery, it was simply blind intend ed to put the police upon wrong tracl by suggesting socialism and secret so cieties. It was not done by German The a, if you noticed. was printed somewhat after the German fashion Now, a real German invariably prints il the Latin character, so that we ma, safely say that this was not written b, one, but by clumsy initator, wh overdld his part. It was simply rus to divert inquiry into wrong channel I'm not going to tell you much more 0 the case, doctor. You know conjure ed his trick, and if show you too mucl of my method of working you will com to the conclusion that am very or dinary individual, after all. "
 II shall never do that" I answered "You have brought detection as nea an exact science as it will ever brought in this world"
 My companion flushed up with pleas ure at my words and the earnest way il which l uttered them. had alread observed that he was sensitive to flatter on the score of his art as any girl coul be of her beauty.
 "I'll tell you one other thing" Il said. Patent feathers and square toe came in the same cab, and they walke down the pathway together as friendl. as possible-arm in arm in all probabiI ity. When they got inside, they wake up and down the room, or rather patell feathers stood still while square toe walked up and down. I could read al that in the dust, and could read that as he walked, he grew more and nor excited. That is shown by the increase length of his strides. He was talkin all the while and working himself ur no doubt, into fury. Then the traged occurred. I've told you all know my self now, for the rest is mere surmis