of course," said he at last, "that the ears are not
a pair."

"Yes, I have noticed that. But if this were the practical joke of some
students from the dissecting-rooms, it would be as easy for them to send
two odd ears as a pair."

"Precisely. But this is not a practical joke."

"You are sure of it?"

"The presumption is strongly against it. Bodies in the dissecting-rooms
are injected with preservative fluid. These ears bear no signs of this.
They are fresh, too. They have been cut off with a blunt instrument,
which would hardly happen if a student had done it. Again, carbolic or
rectified spirits would be the preservatives which would suggest
themselves to the medical mind, certainly not rough salt. I repeat that
there is no practical joke here, but that we are investigating a serious
crime."

A vague thrill ran through me as I listened to my companion's words and
saw the stern gravity which had hardened his features. This brutal
preliminary seemed to shadow forth some strange and inexplicable horror
in the background. Lestrade, however, shook his head like a man who is
only half convinced.

"There are objections to the joke theory, no doubt," said he; "but there
are much stronger reasons against the other. We know that this woman has
led a most quiet and respectable life at Penge and here for the last
twenty years. She has hardly been away from her home for a day during
that time. Why on earth, then, should any criminal send her the proofs
of his guilt, especially as, unless she is a most consummate actress,
she understands quite as little of the matter as we do?"

"That is the problem which we have to solve," Holmes answered, "and for
my part I shall set about it by presuming that my reasoning is correct,
and that a double murder has been committed. One of these ears is a
woman's, small, finely formed, and pierced for an earring. The other is
a man's, sun-burned, discoloured, and also pierced for an earring. These
two people are presumably dead, or we should have heard their story
before now. To-day is Friday. The packet was posted on Thursday morning.
The tragedy, then, occurred on Wednesday or Tuesday, or earlier. If the
two people were murdered, who but their murderer would have sent this
sign of his work to Miss Cushing? We may take it that the sender of the
packet is the man whom we want. But he must have some strong reason for
sending Miss Cushing this packet. What reason, then? It must have been
to t