Short Stories
THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE STUDENTS
by Arthur Co nan Do yle
It was in the year '95 that a combination of events, into which I
need not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to
spend some weeks in one of our great university towns, and it
was during this time that the small but instructive adventure
which I am about to relate befell us. It will be obvious that any
details which would help the reader exactly to identify the col-
lege or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive. So pain-
ful a scandal may well be allowed to die out. With due discretion
the incident itself may, however, be described, since it serves to
illustrate some of those qualities for which my friend was re-
markable. I will endeavour, in 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 furnished lodgings close to a
library where Sherlock Holmes was pursuing some laborious re-
searches in early English charters—researches which led to re-
sults so striking that they may be the subject of one of my future
narratives. Here it was that one evening we received a visit from
an acquaintance, Mr. Hilton Soames, tutor and lecturer at the
College of St. Luke's. Mr. Soames was a tall, spare man, of a
nervous and excitable temperament. I had always known him to
be restless in his manner, but on this particular occasion he was
in such a state of uncontrollable agitation that it was clear some-
thing very unusual had occurred.
"I trust, Mr. Holmes, that you can spare me a few hours of
your valuable time. We have had a very painful incident at St.
Luke's, and really, but for the happy chance of your being in
town, I should have been at a loss what to do."
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