some traces of the storm and rain into your snug chamber.”


“Give me your coat and umbrella,” said Holmes. “They may rest

here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the

south-west, I see.”


“Yes, from Horsham.”


“That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is quite

distinctive.”


“I have come for advice.”


“That is easily got.”


“And help.”


“That is not always so easy.”


“I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast how you

saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal.”


“Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards.”


“He said that you could solve anything.”


“He said too much.”


“That you are never beaten.”


“I have been beaten four times—three times by men, and once by a

woman.”


“But what is that compared with the number of your successes?”


“It is true that I have been generally successful.”


“Then you may be so with me.”


“I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me with

some details as to your case.”


“It is no ordinary one.”


“None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of

appeal.”


“And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you have ever

listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of events than those which

have happened in my own family.”


“You fill me with interest,” said Holmes. “Pray give us the

essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards question you as to

those details which seem to me to be most important.”


The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out towards the

blaze.


“My name,” said he, “is John Openshaw, but my own affairs

have, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful business. It is

a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an idea of the facts, I must go

back to the commencement of the affair.


“You must know that my grandfather had two sons—my uncle Elias and