-- that a man should

draw up so important a document in so haphazard a fashion.

it suggests that he did not think it was going to be of

much practical importance. if a man drew up a will which

he did not intend ever to be effective he might do it so."

"well, he drew up his own death-warrant at the same time,"

said lestrade.

"oh, you think so?"

"don't you?"

"well, it is quite possible; but the case is not clear to

me yet."

"not clear? well, if that isn't clear, what _could_ be

clear? here is a young man who learns suddenly that if a

certain older man dies he will succeed to a fortune. what

does he do? he says nothing to anyone, but he arranges

that he shall go out on some pretext to see his client that

night; he waits until the only other person in the house is

in bed, and then in the solitude of the man's room he

murders him, burns his body in the wood-pile, and departs

to a neighbouring hotel. the blood-stains in the room and

also on the stick are very slight. it is probable that he

imagined his crime to be a bloodless one, and hoped that if

the body were consumed it would hide all traces of the

method of his death -- traces which for some reason must

have pointed to him. is all this not obvious?"

"it strikes me, my good lestrade, as being just a trifle

too obvious," said holmes. "you do not add imagination to

your other great qualities; but if you could for one moment

put yourself in the place of this young man, would you

choose the very night after the will had been made to

commit your crime? would it not seem dangerous to you to

make so very close a relation between the two incidents?

again, would you choose an occasion when you are known to

be in the house, when a servant has let you in? and,

finally, would you take the great pains to conceal the body

and yet leave your own stick as a sign that you were the

criminal? confess, lestrade, that all this is very

unlikely."

"as to the stick, mr. holmes, you know as well as i do that

a criminal is often flurried and does things which a cool

man would avoid. he was very likely afraid to go back to

the room. give me another theory that would fit the facts."

"i could very easily give you half-a-dozen," said holmes.

"here, for example, is a very possible and even probable

one. i make you a free present of it. the older man is

showing documents which are of evident value. a passing

tramp sees them through the window, the blind of which is

only half down. exit the solicitor. enter the tramp!

he seizes a stick, which he observes there, kills oldacre,

and departs after burning the body."

"why should the tramp burn the body?"

"for the matter of that why should mcfarlane?"

"to hide some evidence."

"possibly the tramp wanted to hide that any murder at all

had been committed."

"and why did the tramp take nothing?"

"because they were papers that he could not negotiate."

lestrade shook his head, though it seemed to me that his

manner was less absolutely assured than before.

"well, mr. sherlock holmes, you may look for your tramp,

and while you are finding him we will hold on to our man.

the future will show which is right. just notice this

point, mr. holmes: that so far as we know none of the

papers were removed, and that the prisoner is the one man

in the world who had no reason for removing them, since he

was heir-at-law and would come into them in any case."

my friend seemed struck by this remark.

"i don't mean to deny that the evidence is in some ways

very strongly in favour of your theory," said he. "i only

wish to point out that there are other theories possible.

as you say, the future will decide. good morning! i dare

say that in the course of the day i shall drop in at

norwood and see how you are getting on."

when the detective departed my friend rose and made his

preparations for the day's work with the alert air of a man

who has a congenial task before him.

"my first movement, watson," said he, as he bustled into

his frock-coat, "must, as i said, be in the direction of

blackheath."

"and why not norwood?"

"because we have in this case one singular incident coming

close to the heels of another singular incident. the

police are making the mistake of concentrating their

attention upon the second, because it happens to be the one

which is actually criminal. but it is evident to me that

the logical way to approach the case is to begin by trying

to throw some light upon the first incident -- the curious

will, so suddenly made, and to so unexpected an heir. it

may do something to simplify what followed. no, my dear

fellow, i don't think you can help me. there is no

prospect of danger, or i should not dream of stirring out

without you. i trust that when i see you in the evening

i will be able to report that i have been able to do

something