I must have a look at the matter."

"I wish to heavens that you would, Mr. Holmes. It's my first big chance,
and I am at my wit's end. For goodness' sake, come down and lend me a
hand."

"Well, well, it just happens that I have already read all the available
evidence, including the report of the inquest, with some care. By the
way, what do you make of that tobacco pouch, found on the scene of the
crime? Is there no clue there?"

Hopkins looked surprised.

"It was the man's own pouch, sir. His initials were inside it. And it
was of sealskin,--and he was an old sealer."

"But he had no pipe."

"No, sir, we could find no pipe. Indeed, he smoked very little, and yet
he might have kept some tobacco for his friends."

"No doubt. I only mention it because, if I had been handling the case,
I should have been inclined to make that the starting-point of my
investigation. However, my friend, Dr. Watson, knows nothing of this
matter, and I should be none the worse for hearing the sequence of
events once more. Just give us some short sketches of the essentials."

Stanley Hopkins drew a slip of paper from his pocket.

"I have a few dates here which will give you the career of the dead man,
Captain Peter Carey. He was born in '45--fifty years of age. He was a
most daring and successful seal and whale fisher. In 1883 he commanded
the steam sealer SEA UNICORN, of Dundee. He had then had several
successful voyages in succession, and in the following year, 1884, he
retired. After that he travelled for some years, and finally he bought
a small place called Woodman's Lee, near Forest Row, in Sussex. There he
has lived for six years, and there he died just a week ago to-day.

"There were some most singular points about the man. In ordinary
life, he was a strict Puritan--a silent, gloomy fellow. His household
consisted of his wife, his daughter, aged twenty, and two female
servants. These last were continually changing, for it was never a very
cheery situation, and sometimes it became past all bearing. The man
was an intermittent drunkard, and when he had the fit on him he was a
perfect fiend. He has been known to drive his wife and daughter out of
doors in the middle of the night and flog them through the park until
the whole village outside the gates was aroused by their screams.

"He was summoned once for a savage assault upon the old vicar, who had
called upon him to remonstrate with him upon his conduct. In short,
Mr. Holmes