I was wired for at 3:15, reached Yoxley
Old Place at 5, conducted my investigation, was back at Charing
Cross by the last train, and straight to you by cab."
"Which means, I suppose, that you are not quite clear about
your case?"
"lt means that I can make neither head nor tail of it. So far as
I can see, it is just as tangled a business as ever I handled, and
yet at first it seemed so simple that one couldn't go wrong.
There's no motive, Mr. Holmes. That's what bothers me -- I
can't put my hand on a motive. Here's a man dead -- there's no
denying that -- but, so far as I can see, no reason on earth why
anyone should wish him harm."
Holmes lit his cigar and leaned back in his chair.
"Let us hear about it," said he.
"I've got my facts pretty clear," said Stanley Hopkins. "All I
want now is to know what they all mean. The story, so far as I
can make it out, is like this. Some years ago this country house,
Yoxley Old Place, was taken by an elderly man, who gave the
name of Professor Coram. He was an invalid, keeping his bed
half the time, and the other half hobbling round the house with a
stick or being pushed about the grounds by the gardener in a
Bath chair.
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