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Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take

wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a

stately, old-fashioned manner he departed.

"It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting

it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I

think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all

this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the

case before our client came into the room."

"My dear Holmes!"

"I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I

remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination

served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial

evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a

trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example."

"But I have heard all that you have heard."