Sherlock Holmes (Carlton Hobbs)

Do I understand, then, that Smith knew who you were?

A simple case, my dear Watson, and yet in some ways an instructive one.

It hinged from the outset upon the pince-nez.

Without them, I'm not sure that we could ever have reached our solution.

When Hopkins here asked me to believe that the intruder, having lost her powerful eyeglasses, could escape by the way she had come, treading carefully along a narrow grass strip, I set it down as impossible.

I was forced to consider the hypothesis that she had remained within the house.

On perceiving the similarity of the two corridors, it became clear that she must have entered the professor's room, for there was no other hiding place for her.

The device of a recess behind the bookcase is a common one in old libraries.

I therefore smoked a great number of those excellent cigarettes, and I dropped the ash all over the floor in front of the bookcase.

When we had ascertained that the professor's consumption of food had increased...

We returned to his room, where by upsetting the cigarette box, I obtained an excellent view of the floor.

So you were able to see from places in the ash that she had come out of her retreat while we were absent.

Yes.

Remarkable, Holmes.

Ah, but here we are at Charing Cross.

Well, Hopkins, I congratulate you on having brought your case to a successful conclusion.

You are going to the yard, no doubt.

That's right, Mr. Holmes.

Watson, I think you and I will drive together to the Russian embassy.

We have a small castle.