affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I am a dangerous

man to fall foul of! See here.” He stepped swiftly forward, seized the

poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands.


“See that you keep yourself out of my grip,” he snarled, and

hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the room.


“He seems a very amiable person,” said Holmes, laughing. “I

am not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him that my

grip was not much more feeble than his own.” As he spoke he picked up the

steel poker and, with a sudden effort, straightened it out again.


“Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official

detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, however, and I

only trust that our little friend will not suffer from her imprudence in

allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Watson, we shall order breakfast,

and afterwards I shall walk down to Doctors’ Commons, where I hope to get

some data which may help us in this matter.”


It was nearly one o’clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his

excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled over with notes

and figures.


“I have seen the will of the deceased wife,” said he. “To

determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the present prices

of the investments with which it is concerned. The total income, which at the

time of the wife’s death was little short of £ 1,100, is now, through the

fall in agricultural prices, not more than £ 750. Each daughter can claim an

income of £ 250, in case of marriage. It is evident, therefore, that if both

girls had married, this beauty would have had a mere pittance, while even one

of them would cripple him to a very serious extent. My morning’s work has

not been wasted, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for

standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, this is too