--"

"Yes, I know all that you saw. You walked round the room several times,
and you knelt down by the body, and then you walked through and tried
the kitchen door, and then----"

John Rance sprang to his feet with a frightened face and suspicion in
his eyes. "Where was you hid to see all that?" he cried. "It seems to me
that you knows a deal more than you should."

Holmes laughed and threw his card across the table to the constable.
"Don't get arresting me for the murder," he said. "I am one of the
hounds and not the wolf; Mr. Gregson or Mr. Lestrade will answer for
that. Go on, though. What did you do next?"

Rance resumed his seat, without however losing his mystified expression.
"I went back to the gate and sounded my whistle. That brought Murcher
and two more to the spot."

"Was the street empty then?"

"Well, it was, as far as anybody that could be of any good goes."

"What do you mean?"

The constable's features broadened into a grin. "I've seen many a drunk
chap in my time," he said, "but never anyone so cryin' drunk as
that cove. He was at the gate when I came out, a-leanin' up agin the
railings, and a-singin' at the pitch o' his lungs about Columbine's
New-fangled Banner, or some such stuff. He couldn't stand, far less
help."

"What sort of a man was he?" asked Sherlock Holmes.

John Rance appeared to be somewhat irritated at this digression. "He was
an uncommon drunk sort o' man," he said. "He'd ha' found hisself in the
station if we hadn't been so took up."

"His face--his dress--didn't you notice them?" Holmes broke in
impatiently.

"I should think I did notice them, seeing that I had to prop him up--me
and Murcher between us. He was a long chap, with a red face, the lower
part muffled round----"

"That will do," cried Holmes. "What became of him?"

"We'd enough to do without lookin' after him," the policeman said, in an
aggrieved voice. "I'll wager he found his way home all right."

"How was he dressed?"

"A brown overcoat."

"Had he a whip in his hand?"

"A whip--no."

"He must have left it behind," muttered my companion. "You didn't happen
to see or hear a cab after that?"

"No."

"There's a half-sovereign for you," my companion said, standing up and
taking his hat. "I am afraid, Rance, that you will never rise in the
force. That head of yours should be for use as well as ornament. You
might have gained your sergeant's stripes last night. The man whom you
held in your hands