The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-07-27

ne UllIolQtQ llle OiSn tI!'fiL L, MIilCiI
l here reproduce. and he laid ii across
Holmes knee. ! rose and standing be-
hind Holmes, studied it over his
shoulder.
ut is very rough, of course, and it
only deals with the points which seem
see later for yourself. Now, first of all,
presuming that The assassin entered
the house, how did ne or she come in?
Undoubtedly by the garden path and
the back door, from which there is
direct access to the study. Any other
way would have been exceedingly COM
plicated. The escape must also been
made along That line. for of the other
two exits from the room one was
blocked by Susan as she ran DOWN
stairs and the other leads straight to
the professors bedroom. I therefore
directed my attention at once to the
garden path. which was saturated with
recent air. and would certainly show
any footmarks.
my examination showed that I was
dealing with a cautious and expert
criminal. No footmarks were to be
found on the path. There could be no
question:, however. that someone had
lines the path. and hat he nae don
SO in order to avoid leaving a track.
I could not find anything in the nature
of a distinct impression, but the grass
was trodden down and someone had
undoubtedly passed. 1t could only
have been The murderer, since neither
the gardener nor anyone else had been
there that morning and the rain had
only begun during the night"
One moment said Holmes. "Whers
does this path cad to?"
ITO the road"
How long IS it,"
"a hundred yards or So"
well. on the road itself?"
mo, it was all trodden into mire.'
"Tut-tut! Well, then, these tracks
upon h grass, were they coming or
going?"
1T was impossible to say. There
was never any outline"
"A large foot or a Small?"
You could not distinguish"
Holmes gave an ejaculation of i'm
patience.
1T has been pouring rain and blow
ing a hurrican ever since said he. 1T
will be harder to read nov than that
helped. What did you do. Hopkins,
after you had made certain that you
had made certain of nothing?"
II think 1 made certain of a good
deal. MIR. Holmes. l knew that some
one had entered the house cautiously
from without. l next examined the
corridor. 1t is lined with cocoanut
iio CIV nv 4lo i SosIOil
of any kind. This brought me into
the study itself. 1t is a scantily fur
nished room. The main article is a
large writing table with a fixed bureau.
This bureau consists of a double COLI
umn of drawers, with a central small
cupboard between them. The drawers
were open, the cupboard locked. The
drawers, it seems, We're always open.
and nothing of alu was kept in them.
There were some ape of importance
In the cupboard, but there We're no
signs that this had been tempered with,
n the professor assures us that MOTH
ing was missing. 1t is certain that no
robbery has been committed.
Il now come to the body of the young
man. 1t was found near the bureau,
just to the left of it, as marked upon
that chart. The stab was on the right
side of the neck and from behind for
wards, so that it is almost impossible
that it could have been self inflicted"
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 impos-
sible. Then, of course, there are the
there was this very important piece Of
evidence Which was found clasped in
the dead mans right hand"
From his pocket Stanley Hopkins
drew a small ape packet. He I'M
folded it and disclosed a golden pince-
nez, with two broken ends of black silk
cord dangling from the n of it.
sight" he added. There can be no
question hat this was snatched from
the face or the person of the assas-
SIM"
Sherlock Holmes took the glasses into
his hand and examined them with the
utmost attention n interest. He
held them on his nose, endeavored to
read through them. went to the win
dow and stared up the street with them.
looked at them most infinitely in the
full light Of the lamp, and family With
a chuckle seated himself at the table
and wrote a few mes upon a sheet of
paper, which he tossed across to STAN
ley Hopkins.
That's the best I 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,
attired like a lady. h has a re-
markedly thick nose, With eyes which
are set close upon either side of it.
She has a pucke-ed forehead, a peer
ing expression, n probably rounded
shoulders. There are indications that
she has had r%ecourse to an optician
dl ledSl Twice during the last few
months. AS her glasses are of re-
markable strength, and as opticians are
not very numerous. there should be no
difficulty in tracing her."
Holmes smiled at the establishment
Of Hopkins, which must have been re-
flected upon my features.
Surely my deductions are simplicity
ITSELF" said he. 1T would be difficult
to name any articles which afford a
finer field for inference than a pair of
glasses. especially SO remarkable a pair
as these. That they belong to a wom-
and I infer from their delicacy, and slso,
Of course. from the last words of the
dying man. AS to her being a person
of refinement and we'll dressed, they
are. as o perceive, handsomely
mounted in solid gold, and it is incon-
ceivable that anyone who wore such
glasses could be slatternly in other re-
spects. You will find hat the clips
are too wide for your nose, showing
that the lady's nose was very broad at
the base. This sort Of nose is usually
a short an coarse one but there is a
sufficient number of exceptions to pre-
vent me from being dogmatic or from
insisting upon this point in my descrip-
ton. My own face is a narrow one,
n yet l find that I cannot get my
ewes into the center nor paa~ thu cor