aid his hand upon my arm. "I think, Watson, that
I shall resume that course of tobacco-poisoning which you have so often
and so justly condemned," said he. "With your permission, gentlemen,
we will now return to our cottage, for I am not aware that any new
factor is likely to come to our notice here. I will turn the facts
over in my mind, Mr. Tregennis, and should anything occur to me I will
certainly communicate with you and the vicar. In the meantime I wish
you both good-morning."

It was not until long after we were back in Poldhu Cottage that Holmes
broke his complete and absorbed silence. He sat coiled in his
armchair, his haggard and ascetic face hardly visible amid the blue
swirl of his tobacco smoke, his black brows drawn down, his forehead
contracted, his eyes vacant and far away. Finally he laid down his
pipe and sprang to his feet.

"It won't do, Watson!" said he with a laugh. "Let us walk along the
cliffs together and search for flint arrows. We are more likely to
find them than clues to this problem. To let the brain work without
sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itself to
pieces. The sea air, sunshine, and patience, Watson--all else will
come.

"Now, let us calmly define our position, Watson," he continued as we
skirted the cliffs together. "Let us get a firm grip of the very
little which we DO know, so that when fresh facts arise we may be ready
to fit them into their places. I take it, in the first place, that
neither of us is prepared to admit diabolical intrusions into the
affairs of men. Let us begin by ruling that entirely out of our minds.
Very good. There remain three persons who have been grievously
stricken by some conscious or unconscious human agency. That is firm
ground. Now, when did this occur? Evidently, assuming his narrative
to be true, it was immediately after Mr. Mortimer Tregennis had left
the room. That is a very important point. The presumption is that it
was within a few minutes afterwards. The cards still lay upon the
table. It was already past their usual hour for bed. Yet they had not
changed their position or pushed back their chairs. I repeat, then,
that the occurrence was immediately after his departure, and not later
than eleven o'clock last night.

"Our next obvious step is to check, so far as we can, the movements of
Mortimer Tregennis after he left the room. In this there is no
difficulty, and they seem to be above suspicio