Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-08-07
The Adventure Of the Three Students
Part One
BY SHERLOCK HOLMES
Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.
BY SHERLOCK HOLMES

IL WttN III inc year 10 tnht ~
nation Of events, into which / need
not enter. caused Mr.. Sherlock Holmes
and myself To spend some weeks in
one Of our great University towns.
and II was during this time that the
small but Instructive adventure which
| am about to relate bcfell us il Will
be obvious that any details which
would help the reader to exactly identi-
| fy the college or the criminal would
be intudicious and offensive. SO pain
ful scandal may well be allowed to
die out. With due discretion the in
cident itself may. however be describ-
ed. since It serves TO illustrate somo of
those qualities for which my friend
was remarkable. I VIII endoavor. I'm
my statement, to avoid such terms as
would serve to limit the events TO
any particular place, or give a clue as
to the people concerned.
We were residing at the time in fur
nished lodgings close to "A library
where Sherlock Holmes was pursuing
some laborious researches In early
EnRlish charters--research which led
TO results so striking that they may
be tho subject of one of my future
narratives. Here It was that one
levening we received a visit from an
acquaintance, Mr.. Hilton Soames.
tutor and lecturer at the College Of
st. Luke's. Mr.. Soames was tall,
spare man. of "A nervous and excitable
temperament. / had always known
him to be restless in his manner, but
on this particular occasion no was
in such n state Of uncomfortable aRi-
tation that IL was clear something
very unusual had occurred.
II trust. Mr.. Holmes, that you can
lspare me n few hours Of your valu-
able time. We have had n very pain
ful incident at st. Luke's. and really.
but for tho happy chance of your he
ing I'm town. should have been at a
loss what 20 do"
II am very busy now. and ! de-
sire no distractions" my friend an
swered. II should much prefer that
you called in the aid OF the police"
"No. no. my dear sir; such "A course
, is utterly impossible. When once tn,
law is evoked II cannot be stayed
: again. and this is just ono Of those
= cases whore, for tho credit OF th'
college. it ls most essential TO avoic
scandal. Your discretion is as vel
, known as your powers, and you arr
: the one man in the world who car
help me. l beg you. Mr. Holmes to d,
& what you can"
: My friends temper had not improv
cd since he had been deprived Of tn
4 congenial surroundings OF Bake
a street. without his scrap books, hi
Il chemicals. and his homely untidlness
no was an uncomfortable man. If
r shrugged his shoulders IN ungraciou
7 acquiescence. while our visitor +
q hurried words and much excftabl
i gestlculatiOn poured forth his story.
"a 81 must explain 10 you, Mr.. Holme,
. that tomorrow is the first day Of tn
Il examination FOR the Fortescue Scholar
]. ship. l am one OF the examiners. NJ
d subject is Greek, and the first OF tn
II papers consists of a large passage c
o Greek translation which the candidat
e has not seen. This passage is printe
" on the examination paper. and
IS would naturally be an immense ad
'e pare IL in advance. For this reasor
great care is taken to keep the pape
lr secret.
e To-day. about three o'clock. III
proofs OF this paper arrived from IN
= printers. The exercise consists {
half a chapter Of Thucydides. I had :
| read It over carefully. as the tex
| must be absolutely correct. At four
| thirty my task was not yet complete,
| had. however. promised TO take te
| in a friends rooms, so left the proc
| upon my desk. I was absent rathe
81 more than an hour.
70 You are aware, Mr.. Holmes. ths
,s our college doors are double-a gree
Is baize one within and a heavy oak or
IN without. As l approached my cute
door, l was amazed TO see a key
is il. For an instant I imagined that
y had left my own there, but on fee
Of ing in my pocket I found that it wa
is all right. The only duplicate whic
u existed, so far as 1 knew. was tn;
re which belonged to my servant, Bai
10 nister--a man who has looked aft,
~ my room for ten years, and who.
- ~ honestly is absolutely above suspicio
- found that the key was indeed hi
/! that he had entered my room
Is know if I wanted tea, and that he ha
- - very carelessly left the key in Il
~ door when he came out. His visit
! my room must have been within
ii very few minutes of my leaving
w His forgetfulness about the key wou
,y have mattered little upon any 9th
70 occasion. but on this one day it h;
AK produced the most deplorable cons
til quences.
THE moment l looked at my tabl
". L was aware that some one had run
e. mayed among my papers. The pro
m was in three long slips. 1 had lie
X, them all together Now, I found tn
one of them was lying on the foe
- ono was on the side table near Il
- window. and the third was where 1 h.
80 left it,"
,a Holmes stirred for the first TIME.
,9 The first page on the floor. Il
st second in the window. the third whe
you left it," said he.
Exactly, Mr.. Holmes You ANA
-