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