Pagina 39 van 657

He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in

the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist

clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white

tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and

benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have

equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His

expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every

fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as

science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in

crime.