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Holmes stretched out his hand at the same moment, and between them they tipped the box over the edge.

For a minute or two we were all on our knees retrieving stray cigarettes from impossible places.

When we rose again I observed that Holmes's eyes were shining and his cheeks tinged with colour.

Only at a crisis have I seen those battle-signals flying.

"Yes," said he, "I have solved it."

Stanley Hopkins and I stared in amazement. Something like a sneer quivered over the gaunt features of the old Professor.

"Indeed! In the garden?"

"No, here."

"Here! When?"

"This instant."

"You are surely joking, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. You compel me to tell you that this is too serious a matter to be treated in such a fashion."

"I have forged and tested every link of my chain, Professor Coram, and I am sure that it is sound.

What your motives are or what exact part you play in this strange business I am not yet able to say.

In a few minutes I shall probably hear it from your own lips.

Meanwhile I will reconstruct what is past for your benefit, so that you may know the information which I still require.

"A lady yesterday entered your study.

She came with the intention of possessing herself of certain documents which were in your bureau.

She had a key of her own.

I have had an opportunity of examining yours, and I do not find that slight discoloration which the scratch made upon the varnish would have produced.

You were not an accessory, therefore, and she came, so far as I can read the evidence, without your knowledge to rob you."

The Professor blew a cloud from his lips. "This is most interesting and instructive," said he. "Have you no more to add? Surely, having traced this lady so far, you can also say what has become of her."

"I will endeavour to do so.

In the first place she was seized by your secretary, and stabbed him in order to escape.

This catastrophe I am inclined to regard as an unhappy accident, for I am convinced that the lady had no intention of inflicting so grievous an injury.

An assassin does not come unarmed.

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