of all to solve the reason of the original
burglary at Mr. Acton's. I understood from something which the Colonel
told us that a law-suit, had been going on between you, Mr. Acton, and
the Cunninghams. Of course, it instantly occurred to me that they had
broken into your library with the intention of getting at some document
which might be of importance in the case."

"Precisely so," said Mr. Acton; "there can be no possible doubt as to
their intentions. I have the clearest claim upon half their present
estate, and if they could have found a single paper--which, fortunately,
was in the strong box of my solicitors--they would undoubtedly have
crippled our case."

[Illustration: "THERE WAS NO POWDER-BLACKENING ON THE CLOTHES."]

"There you are!" said Holmes, smiling. "It was a dangerous, reckless
attempt in which I seem to trace the influence of young Alec. Having
found nothing, they tried to divert suspicion by making it appear to be
an ordinary burglary, to which end they carried off whatever they could
lay their hands upon. That is all clear enough, but there was much that
was still obscure. What I wanted above all was to get the missing part
of that note. I was certain that Alec had torn it out of the dead man's
hand, and almost certain that he must have thrust it into the pocket of
his dressing-gown. Where else could he have put it? The only question
was whether it was still there. It was worth an effort to find out, and
for that object we all went up to the house.

"The Cunninghams joined us, as you doubtless remember, outside the
kitchen door. It was, of course, of the very first importance that they
should not be reminded of the existence of this paper, otherwise they
would naturally destroy it without delay. The Inspector was about to
tell them the importance which we attached to it when, by the luckiest
chance in the world, I tumbled down in a sort of fit and so changed the
conversation."

"Good heavens!" cried the Colonel, laughing. "Do you mean to say all our
sympathy was wasted and your fit an imposture?"

"Speaking professionally, it was admirably done," cried I, looking in
amazement at this man who was for ever confounding me with some new
phase of his astuteness.

"It is an art which is often useful," said he. "When I recovered I
managed by a device, which had, perhaps, some little merit of ingenuity,
to get old Cunningham to write the word 'twelve,' so that I might
compare it with the 'twelve' up