along the grass border which lines the path, and that
he had done 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. it 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. "where does this path lead to?"
"to 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; it was all trodden into mire."
"tut-tut! well, then, these tracks upon the grass, were
they coming or going?"
"it was impossible to say. there was never any outline."
"a large foot or a small?"
"you could not distinguish."
holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.
"it has been pouring rain and blowing a hurricane ever
since," said he. "it will be harder to read now than that
palimpsest. well, well, it can't be helped. what did you
do, hopkins, after you had made certain that you had made
certain of nothing?"
"i think i made certain of a good deal, mr. holmes. i knew
that someone had entered the house cautiously from without.
i next examined the corridor. it is lined with cocoanut
matting and had taken no impression of any kind. this
brought me into the study itself. it is a
scantily-furnished room. the main article is a large
writing-table with a fixed bureau. this bureau consists of
a double column of drawers with a central 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 were no signs that
this had been tampered with, and the professor assures me
that nothing was missing. it is certain that no robbery has
been committed.
"i come now to the body of the young man. it was found near
the bureau, and just to the left of it, as marked upon that
chart. the stab was on the right side of the neck and from
behind forwards, 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 impossible.
then, of course, there are the man's own dying words. and,
finally, there was this very important piece of evidence
which was found clasped in the dead man's right hand."
from his pocket stanley hopkins drew a small paper packet.
he unfolded it and disclosed a golden pince-nez, with two
broken ends of black silk cord dangling from the end of it.
"willoughby smith had excellent sight," he added. "there
can be no question that this was snatched from the face or
the person of the assassin."
sherlock holmes took the glasses into his hand and examined
them with the utmost attention and interest. he held them
on his nose, endeavoured to read through them, went to the
window and stared up the street with them, looked at them
most minutely 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 i can do for you," said he. "it may prove
to be of some use."
the astonished detective read the note aloud. it ran as
follows:--
"wanted, a woman of good address, attired like a lady.
she has a remarkably thick nose, with eyes which are set
close upon either side of it. she has a puckered forehead,
a peering expression, and probably rounded shoulders. there
are indications that she has had recourse to an optician at
least twice during the last few months. as her glasses are
of remarkable strength and as opticians are not very
numerous, there should be no 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. "it
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 woman i
infer from their delicacy, and also, of course, from the
last words of the dying man. as to her being a person of
refinement and well dressed, they are, as you perceive,
handsomely mounted in solid gold, and it is inconceivable
that anyone who wore such glasses could be slatternly in
other respects. you will find that 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 and
coarse one, but
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