I will endeavour, in my statement, to avoid such terms
as would serve to limit the events to any particular place, or give
a clue as to the people concerned.
We were residing at the time in furnished lodgings close to a
library where Sherlock Holmes was pursuing some laborious
researches in early English charters -- researches which led to
results so striking that they may be the subject of one of my
future narratives. Here it was that one evening we received a
visit from an acquaintance, Mr. Hilton Soames, tutor and lec-
turer at the College of St. Luke's. Mr. Soames was a tall, spare
man, of a nervous and excitable temperament. I had always
known him to be restless in his manner, but on this particular
occasion he was in such a state of uncontrollable agitation that it
was clear something very unusual had occurred.
"I trust, Mr. Holmes, that you can spare me a few hours of
your valuable time. We have had a very painful incident at St.
Luke's, and really, but for the happy chance of your being in
town, I should have been at a loss what to do.
Pages:
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356