Short Stories
"Dear me!" said Holmes, and he smiled in a singular way as
he glanced at our companion. "Well, if there is nothing to be
learned here, we had best go inside."
The lecturer unlocked the outer door and ushered us into his
room. We stood at the entrance while Holmes made an examina-
tion of the carpet.
"I am afraid there are no signs here," said he. "One could
hardly hope for any upon so dry a day. Your servant seems to
have quite recovered. You left him in a chair, you say. Which
chair?"
"By the window there."
"I see. Near this little table. You can come in now. I have fin-
ished with the carpet. Let us take the little table first. Of course,
what has happened is very clear. The man entered and took the
papers, sheet by sheet, from the central table. He carried them
over to the window table, because from there he could see if you
came across the courtyard, and so could effect an escape."
"As a matter of fact, he could not," said Soames, "for I entered
by the side door."
"Ah, that's good! Well, anyhow, that was in his mind. Let me
see the three strips. No finger impressions—no! Well, he carried
over this one first, and he copied it. How long would it take him
to do that, using every possible contraction? A quarter of an
hour, not less. Then he tossed it down and seized the next. He
was in the midst of that when your return caused him to make a
very hurried retreat—VERY hurried, since he had not time to re-
place the papers which would tell you that he had been there.
You were not aware of any hurrying feet on the stair as you
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