lled back to town. "it hinged

from the outset upon the pince-nez. but for the fortunate

chance of the dying man having seized these i am not sure

that we could ever have reached our solution. it was clear

to me from the strength of the glasses that the wearer must

have been very blind and helpless when deprived of them.

when you asked me to believe that she walked along a narrow

strip of grass without once making a false step i remarked,

as you may remember, that it was a noteworthy performance.

in my mind i set it down as an impossible performance, save

in the unlikely case that she had a second pair of glasses.

i was forced, therefore, to seriously consider the

hypothesis that she had remained within the house. on

perceiving the similarity of the two corridors it became

clear that she might very easily have made such a mistake,

and in that case it was evident that she must have entered

the professor's room. i was keenly on the alert, therefore,

for whatever would bear out this supposition, and i examined

the room narrowly for anything in the shape of a

hiding-place. the carpet seemed continuous and firmly

nailed, so i dismissed the idea of a trap-door. there might

well be a recess behind the books. as you are aware, such

devices are common in old libraries. i observed that books

were piled on the floor at all other points, but that one

bookcase was left clear. this, then, might be the door. i

could see no marks to guide me, but the carpet was of a dun

colour, which lends itself very well to examination. i

therefore smoked a great number of those excellent

cigarettes, and i dropped the ash all over the space in

front of the suspected bookcase. it was a simple trick, but

exceedingly effective. i then went downstairs and i

ascertained, in your presence, watson, without your quite

perceiving the drift of my remarks, that professor coram's

consumption of food had increased -- as one would expect

when he is supplying a second person. we then ascended to

the room again, when, by upsetting the cigarette-box, i

obtained a very excellent view of the floor, and was able to

see quite clearly, from the traces upon the cigarette ash,

that the prisoner had, in our absence, come out from her

retreat. well, hopkins, here we are at charing cross, and i

congratulate you on having brought your case to a successful

conclusion. you are going to head-quarters, no doubt. i think,

watson, you and i will drive together to the russian embassy."

{------------------------------------}

{---------- end of text -------------}

{------------------------------------}

{miss, rev 4, 1/17/96 rms, 4th proofing}

{the adventure of the missing three-quarter, arthur conan doyle}

{source: the strand magazine, 28 (aug. 1904)}

{etext prepared by roger squires rsquires@nmia.com}

{braces({}) in the text indicate textual end-notes}

{underscores (_) in the text indicate italics}

xi. -- the adventure of the missing three-quarter.

we were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams

at baker street, but i have a particular recollection

of one which reached us on a gloomy february morning

some seven or eight years ago and gave mr. sherlock

holmes a puzzled quarter of an hour. it was addressed

to him, and ran thus:--

"please await me. terrible misfortune. right wing

three-quarter missing; indispensable to morrow. -- overton."

"strand post-mark and dispatched ten-thirty-six," said

holmes, reading it over and over. "mr. overton was

evidently considerably excited when he sent it, and

somewhat incoherent in consequence. well, well, he

will be here, i dare say, by the time i have looked

through the _times_, and then we shall know all about

it. even the most insignificant problem would be

welcome in these stagnant days."

things had indeed been very slow with us, and i had

learned to dread such periods of inaction, for i knew

by experience that my companion's brain was so

abnormally active that it was dangerous to leave it

without material upon which to work. for years i had

gradually weaned him from that drug mania which had

threatened once to check his remarkable career. now i

knew that under ordinary conditions he no longer

craved for this artificial stimulus, but i was well

aware that the fiend was not dead, but sleeping; and i

have known that the sleep was a light one and the

waking near when in periods of idleness i have seen

the drawn look upon holmes's ascetic face, and the

brooding of his deep-set and inscrutable eyes.

therefore i blessed this mr. overton, whoever he might

be, since he had come with his enigmatic message to

break that dangerous calm which brought more peril to

my friend than all the storms of his tempestuous life.

as we had expected, the telegram was soon followed by

its sender, and the card of mr. cyril overton, of

trinity coll