ns," I remarked,
"the thing always appears to me so ridiculously simple that I could
easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your
reasoning I am baffled, until you explain your process. And yet, I
believe that my eyes are as good as yours."

"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down
into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is
clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up
from the hall to this room."

"Frequently."

"How often?"

"Well, some hundreds of times."

"Then how many are there?"

"How many? I don't know."

"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my
point. Now, I know there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen
and observed. By the way, since you are interested in these little
problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my
trifling experiences, you may be interested in this." He threw over a
sheet of thick pink-tinted note paper which had been lying open upon the
table. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud."

The note was undated, and without either signature or address.

"There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight o'clock," it
said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter of the very
deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the royal houses of
Europe have shown that you are one who may safely be trusted with
matters which are of an importance which can hardly be exaggerated. This
account of you we have from all quarters received. Be in your chamber,
then, at that hour, and do not take it amiss if your visitor wears a
mask."

"This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that it
means?"

"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has
data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of
theories to suit facts. But the note itself--what do you deduce from
it?"

I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was
written.

"The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked,
endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper could not
be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong and
stiff."

"Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an English
paper at all. Hold it up to the light."

I did so, and saw a large _E_ with a small _g_, a _P_ and a large _G_
with a s