and that your only chance
lies in a frank confession."

For a moment Gilchrist, with upraised hand, tried to control his
writhing features. The next he had thrown himself on his knees beside
the table, and burying his face in his hands, he had burst into a storm
of passionate sobbing.

"Come, come," said Holmes, kindly, "it is human to err, and at least
no one can accuse you of being a callous criminal. Perhaps it would be
easier for you if I were to tell Mr. Soames what occurred, and you can
check me where I am wrong. Shall I do so? Well, well, don't trouble to
answer. Listen, and see that I do you no injustice.

"From the moment, Mr. Soames, that you said to me that no one, not even
Bannister, could have told that the papers were in your room, the case
began to take a definite shape in my mind. The printer one could, of
course, dismiss. He could examine the papers in his own office. The
Indian I also thought nothing of. If the proofs were in a roll, he
could not possibly know what they were. On the other hand, it seemed an
unthinkable coincidence that a man should dare to enter the room,
and that by chance on that very day the papers were on the table. I
dismissed that. The man who entered knew that the papers were there. How
did he know?

"When I approached your room, I examined the window. You amused me by
supposing that I was contemplating the possibility of someone having
in broad daylight, under the eyes of all these opposite rooms, forced
himself through it. Such an idea was absurd. I was measuring how tall a
man would need to be in order to see, as he passed, what papers were on
the central table. I am six feet high, and I could do it with an effort.
No one less than that would have a chance. Already you see I had reason
to think that, if one of your three students was a man of unusual
height, he was the most worth watching of the three.

"I entered, and I took you into my confidence as to the suggestions of
the side table. Of the centre table I could make nothing, until in
your description of Gilchrist you mentioned that he was a long-distance
jumper. Then the whole thing came to me in an instant, and I only needed
certain corroborative proofs, which I speedily obtained.

"What happened with {sic} this: This young fellow had employed his
afternoon at the athletic grounds, where he had been practising the
jump. He returned carrying his jumping-shoes, which are provided, as you
are aware, with several sha