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done with another pen or by someone else. It is thicker and bolder, as you see.โ€

โ€œA very remarkable note,โ€ said Holmes, glancing it over. โ€œI must compliment you, Mr. Baynes, upon your attention to detail in your examination of it. A few trifling points might perhaps be added. The oval seal is undoubtedly a plain sleeve-linkโ โ€”what else is of such a shape? The scissors were bent nail scissors. Short as the two snips are, you can distinctly see the same slight curve in each.โ€

The country detective chuckled.

โ€œI thought I had squeezed all the juice out of it, but I see there was a little over,โ€ he said. โ€œIโ€™m bound to say that I make nothing of the note except that there was something on hand, and that a woman, as usual was at the bottom of it.โ€

Mr. Scott Eccles had fidgeted in his seat during this conversation.

โ€œI am glad you found the note, since it corroborates my story,โ€ said he. โ€œBut I beg to point out that I have not yet heard what has happened to Mr. Garcia, nor what has become of his household.โ€

โ€œAs to Garcia,โ€ said Gregson, โ€œthat is easily answered. He was found dead this morning upon Oxshott Common, nearly a mile from his home. His head had been smashed to pulp by heavy blows of a sandbag or some such instrument, which had crushed rather than wounded. It is a lonely corner, and there is no house within a quarter of a mile of the spot. He had apparently been struck down first from behind, but his assailant had gone on beating him long after he was dead. It was a most furious assault. There are no footsteps nor any clue to the criminals.โ€

โ€œRobbed?โ€

โ€œNo, there was no attempt at robbery.โ€

โ€œThis is very painfulโ โ€”very painful and terrible,โ€ said Mr. Scott Eccles in a querulous voice, โ€œbut it is really uncommonly hard on me. I had nothing to do with my host going off upon a nocturnal excursion and meeting so sad an end. How do I come to be mixed up with the case?โ€

โ€œVery simply, sir,โ€ Inspector Baynes answered. โ€œThe only document found in the pocket of the deceased was a letter from you saying that you would be with him on the night of his death. It was the envelope of this letter which gave us the dead manโ€™s name and address. It was after nine this morning when we reached his house and found neither you nor anyone else inside it. I wired to Mr. Gregson to run you down in London while I examined Wisteria Lodge. Then I came into town, joined Mr. Gregson, and here we are.โ€

โ€œI think now,โ€ said Gregson, rising, โ€œwe had best put this matter into an official shape. You will come round with us to the station, Mr. Scott Eccles, and let us have your statement in writing.โ€

โ€œCertainly, I will come at once. But I retain your services, Mr. Holmes. I desire you to spare no expense and no pains to get at the truth.โ€

My friend turned to the country inspector.

โ€œI suppose that you have no objection to my collaborating with you, Mr. Baynes?โ€

โ€œHighly honoured, sir, I am sure.โ€

โ€œYou appear to have been very prompt and businesslike in all that you have done. Was there any clue, may I ask, as to the exact hour that the man met his death?โ€

โ€œHe had been there since one oโ€™clock. There was rain about that time, and his death had certainly been before the rain.โ€

โ€œBut that is perfectly impossible, Mr. Baynes,โ€ cried our client. โ€œHis voice is unmistakable. I could swear to it that it was he who addressed me in my bedroom at that very hour.โ€

โ€œRemarkable, but by no means impossible,โ€ said Holmes, smiling.

โ€œYou have a clue?โ€ asked Gregson.

โ€œOn the face of it the case is not a very complex one, though it certainly presents some novel and interesting features. A further knowledge of facts is necessary before I would venture to give a final and definite opinion. By the way, Mr. Baynes, did you find anything remarkable besides this note in your examination of the house?โ€

The detective looked at my friend in a singular way.

โ€œThere were,โ€ said he, โ€œone or two very remarkable things. Perhaps when I have finished at the police-station you would care to come out and give me your opinion of them.โ€

โ€œI am entirely at your service,โ€ said Sherlock Holmes, ringing the bell. โ€œYou will show these gentlemen out, Mrs. Hudson, and kindly send the boy with this telegram. He is to pay a five-shilling reply.โ€

We sat for some time in silence after our visitors had left. Holmes smoked hard, with his brows drawn down over his keen eyes, and his head thrust forward in the eager way characteristic of the man.

โ€œWell, Watson,โ€ he asked, turning suddenly upon me, โ€œwhat do you make of it?โ€

โ€œI can make nothing of this mystification of Scott Eccles.โ€

โ€œBut the crime?โ€

โ€œWell, taken with the disappearance of the manโ€™s companions, I should say that they were in some way concerned in the murder and had fled from justice.โ€

โ€œThat is certainly a possible point of view. On the face of it you must admit, however, that it is very strange that his two servants should have been in a conspiracy against him and should have attacked him on the one night when he had a guest. They had him alone at their mercy every other night in the week.โ€

โ€œThen why did they fly?โ€

โ€œQuite so. Why did they fly? There is a big fact. Another big fact is the remarkable experience of our client, Scott Eccles. Now, my dear Watson, is it beyond the limits of human ingenuity to furnish an explanation which would cover both of these big facts? If it were one which would also admit of the mysterious note with its very curious phraseology, why, then it would be worth accepting as a temporary hypothesis. If the fresh facts which come to our knowledge all fit themselves into the scheme, then our hypothesis may gradually become a solution.โ€

โ€œBut what is our hypothesis?โ€

Holmes leaned back

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