ncredulity
the other day. But I have in my hands here a little problem which may
prove to be more difficult of solution than my small essay in thought
reading. Have you observed in the paper a short paragraph referring to
the remarkable contents of a packet sent through the post to Miss Susan
Cushing, of Cross Street, Croydon?"

"No, I saw nothing."

"Ah! then you must have overlooked it. Just toss it over to me. Here it
is, under the financial column. Perhaps you would be good enough to read
it aloud."

I picked up the paper which he had thrown back to me, and read the
paragraph indicated. It was headed, "A Gruesome Packet."

"Miss Susan Cushing, living at Cross Street, Croydon, has been made the
victim of what must be regarded as a peculiarly revolting practical
joke, unless some more sinister meaning should prove to be attached to
the incident. At two o'clock yesterday afternoon a small packet, wrapped
in brown paper, was handed in by the postman. A cardboard box was
inside, which was filled with coarse salt. On emptying this, Miss
Gushing was horrified to find two human ears, apparently quite freshly
severed. The box had been sent by parcel post from Belfast upon the
morning before. There is no indication as to the sender, and the matter
is the more mysterious as Miss Cushing, who is a maiden lady of fifty,
has led a most retired life, and has so few acquaintances or
correspondents that it is a rare event for her to receive anything
through the post. Some years ago, however, when she resided at Penge,
she let apartments in her house to three young medical students, whom
she was obliged to get rid of on account of their noisy and irregular
habits. The police are of opinion that this outrage may have been
perpetrated upon Miss Cushing by these youths, who owed her a grudge,
and who hoped to frighten her by sending her these relics of the
dissecting-rooms. Some probability is lent to the theory by the fact
that one of these students came from the north of Ireland, and, to the
best of Miss Cushing's belief, from Belfast. In the meantime, the matter
is being actively investigated, Mr. Lestrade, one of the very smartest
of our detective officers, being in charge of the case."

"So much for the _Daily Chronicle_" said Holmes, as I finished reading.
"Now for our friend Lestrade. I had a note from him this morning, in
which he says: 'I think that this case is very much in your line. We
have every hope of clearing the m