a hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was cracked,

exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, although there seemed to have

been some attempt to hide the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink.


“I can see nothing,” said I, handing it back to my friend.


“On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, however, to

reason from what you see. You are too timid in drawing your inferences.”


“Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?”


He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective fashion which was

characteristic of him. “It is perhaps less suggestive than it might have

been,” he remarked, “and yet there are a few inferences which are

very distinct, and a few others which represent at least a strong balance of

probability. That the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the

face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the last three years,

although he has now fallen upon evil days. He had foresight, but has less now

than formerly, pointing to a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the

decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink,

at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that his wife has

ceased to love him.”


“My dear Holmes!”


“He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect,” he

continued, disregarding my remonstrance. “He is a man who leads a

sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is middle-aged,

has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the last few days, and which he

anoints with lime-cream. These are the more patent facts which are to be

deduced from his hat. Also, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he

has gas laid on in his house.”


“You are certainly joking, Holmes.”


“Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you these

results, you are unable to see how they are attained?”