Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-07-01

Hopkins plan of YOrlcy Old Place.
the gardener nor any one else had been
there that morning and the rain had
only begun during the night"
zone moment" said Holmes. 'Where
does this path lead to-"
ITO the road"
How long is it,"
"a hundred yards or So"
AT the point where the path passes
through the gate you could surely pick
up the tracks,"
unfortunately the path was tiled
at that point
well. on the road itSelf?"
NO, twas all trodden into mire''
Tut tut. Well. then. these tracks
upon the grass. were they coming or
going:"
1t was impossible to say. There
was never any outline"
a large foot or Il small?"
You could rot distinguish"
Holmes gave an ejaculation of i'm
patience.
1t has been pouring rain and blow
ing u hurricane ever since" said he.
1t will he harder to read now than
that palimpscst. Well, well, it can't
be helped. What did you do, Hop
kins, after you had made certain that
you had made certain of nothing!'
Il think l made certain of IL good
deal, Mr.. Holmes. l knew that some
one had entered the house cautiously
from without / next examined the
corridor 1t is lined with cocoanut
mating and had taken no impression
of any kind. This brought me into
the study itself. 1t is Il scantily fur
nished room. The main article is Il
large writing table with fixed
bureau. This bureau consists of Il
double column of drawers, with Il cen
trail small cupboard between them
The drawers were open, the cupboard
locked. The drawers. it seems, were
always open. and nothing of value
was kept in them. There were some
papers of Importance in the cupboard,
but there We're no signs that this had
been tampcTCd with, and the professor
assures ne that nothing was missing
1t is certain that no robbery has been
committed.
Il come now to the body of the young
man. 1t was found near the bureau.
ana just 10 the left of it, as marked
upon that chart. The stab was on the
right side of The neck and from behind
forward, so that it is almost impossi-
bic the it could have been self in
fiictcd."
Unless he fell upon the knife" said
Holmes.
Exactly The idea crossed my
mind. But we found the knife some
feet away from the body, SO that
seems impossible. Then, of course,
there are the mans own dying words.
And. finally, there was this very i'm
portant piece Of evidence which was
found clIsped in the dead mans right
hand"
From his pocket Stanley Hopkins
drew Il small paper packet He un-
folded it and disclosed golden pince-
nez, with two broken ends of black
silk cord dangling from the end of it.
"Nilloughby Smith had excellent
sight" he added. There can he no
question that this was snatched from
the face or the person of the assassin"
Sherlock Holmes took the glasses in
10 his hand and examined them with
tlit ulA4lOoL tiltCAllAOlA anu InttitSl. lis
held them on his nose, endeavored to
read through them, went to the win
dow and stared up the streCe with
them looked at them most infinitely in
the full light of the lamp and finally,
with a chuckle. seated himself at the
table and wrote a few lines upon a
sheet of paper, which he tossed across
TO Stanley Hopkins.
That's the best 1 can do for you"
said he 1T may prove to be of some
use"
The astonished detective read the
note aloud. 1t ran as follows:
Wanted. a woman of good address. at
tired like a lady. She has u remarkably
thick nose with eyes which are set close
UPON either side of il. She has 4 pucker-
ed forehead. "A peerlug expression and
probably rounded shoulders There are
indications that she has had recourse TO
an optician at least twice during the last
markable strength and as opticians are
not very numerous, there should be 10
difficulty in tracing her
Holmes smiled at the astonishment
of Hopkins. which must have been
reflected upon my features.
Surely my deductions are simplicity
itself" said he. 1T would be difficult
to name any articles which afford n
finer field for inference than a pair of
glasses. especially so remarkable pair /.
AZ these. That they belong TO Il woman I
l infer from their delicacy and also Of I
course from the last words OF the dying
man. A. 10 her being a person of re /
fnement and well dressed. they are. as !
you perceive, handsomely mounted in
solid gold, and it is inconceivable that I
any one who wore such glasses could +.
be slatternly in other respects. You 4
Will ind that the clips are too wide. for