at the man we are after is not as
lonely as I imagined he was, but has friends who are ready to risk
something for him. Now, Doctor, you are looking done-up. Take my advice
and turn in."

I was certainly feeling very weary, so I obeyed his injunction. I
left Holmes seated in front of the smouldering fire, and long into the
watches of the night I heard the low, melancholy wailings of his violin,
and knew that he was still pondering over the strange problem which he
had set himself to unravel.

CHAPTER VI. TOBIAS GREGSON SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO.

THE papers next day were full of the "Brixton Mystery," as they termed
it. Each had a long account of the affair, and some had leaders upon it
in addition. There was some information in them which was new to me. I
still retain in my scrap-book numerous clippings and extracts bearing
upon the case. Here is a condensation of a few of them:--

The _Daily Telegraph_ remarked that in the history of crime there had
seldom been a tragedy which presented stranger features. The German
name of the victim, the absence of all other motive, and the sinister
inscription on the wall, all pointed to its perpetration by political
refugees and revolutionists. The Socialists had many branches in
America, and the deceased had, no doubt, infringed their unwritten laws,
and been tracked down by them. After alluding airily to the Vehmgericht,
aqua tofana, Carbonari, the Marchioness de Brinvilliers, the Darwinian
theory, the principles of Malthus, and the Ratcliff Highway murders, the
article concluded by admonishing the Government and advocating a closer
watch over foreigners in England.

The _Standard_ commented upon the fact that lawless outrages of the sort
usually occurred under a Liberal Administration. They arose from the
unsettling of the minds of the masses, and the consequent weakening
of all authority. The deceased was an American gentleman who had
been residing for some weeks in the Metropolis. He had stayed at the
boarding-house of Madame Charpentier, in Torquay Terrace, Camberwell.
He was accompanied in his travels by his private secretary, Mr. Joseph
Stangerson. The two bade adieu to their landlady upon Tuesday, the
4th inst., and departed to Euston Station with the avowed intention of
catching the Liverpool express. They were afterwards seen together upon
the platform. Nothing more is known of them until Mr. Drebber's body
was, as recorded, discovered in an empty house in the B