e. "Here's
a cigar, and the doctor has a prescription containing hot water and a
lemon which is good medicine on a night like this. It must be something
important which has brought you out in such a gale."

"It is indeed, Mr. Holmes. I've had a bustling afternoon, I promise you.
Did you see anything of the Yoxley case in the latest editions?"

"I've seen nothing later than the fifteenth century to-day."

"Well, it was only a paragraph, and all wrong at that, so you have not
missed anything. I haven't let the grass grow under my feet. It's down
in Kent, seven miles from Chatham and three from the railway line. I was
wired for at three-fifteen, reached Yoxley Old Place at five, 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?"

"It 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. He was well liked by the few neighbours who
called upon him, and he has the reputation down there of being a very
learned man. His household used to consist of an elderly housekeeper,
Mrs. Marker, and of a maid, Susan Tarlton. These have both been with him
since his arrival, and they seem to be women of excellent character. The
Professor is writing a learned book, and he found it necessary about
a year ago to engage a secretary. The first two that he tried were
not successes; but the third, Mr. Willoughby Smith, a very young man
straight from the University, seems to have been just what his employer
wanted. His work consisted in writing all the