out, and see the twirl of the final s. They are undoubtedly by
the same person. I should not like to suggest false hopes, Miss
Morstan, but is there any resemblance between this hand and that of
your father?"

"Nothing could be more unlike."

"I expected to hear you say so. We shall look out for you, then, at
six. Pray allow me to keep the papers. I may look into the matter
before then. It is only half-past three. Au revoir, then."

"Au revoir," said our visitor, and, with a bright, kindly glance from
one to the other of us, she replaced her pearl-box in her bosom and
hurried away. Standing at the window, I watched her walking briskly
down the street, until the gray turban and white feather were but a
speck in the sombre crowd.

"What a very attractive woman!" I exclaimed, turning to my companion.

He had lit his pipe again, and was leaning back with drooping eyelids.
"Is she?" he said, languidly. "I did not observe."

"You really are an automaton,--a calculating-machine!" I cried. "There
is something positively inhuman in you at times."

He smiled gently. "It is of the first importance," he said, "not to
allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities. A client is to
me a mere unit,--a factor in a problem. The emotional qualities are
antagonistic to clear reasoning. I assure you that the most winning
woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for
their insurance-money, and the most repellant man of my acquaintance is
a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the
London poor."

"In this case, however--"

"I never make exceptions. An exception disproves the rule. Have you
ever had occasion to study character in handwriting? What do you make
of this fellow's scribble?"

"It is legible and regular," I answered. "A man of business habits and
some force of character."

Holmes shook his head. "Look at his long letters," he said. "They
hardly rise above the common herd. That d might be an a, and that l an
e. Men of character always differentiate their long letters, however
illegibly they may write. There is vacillation in his k's and
self-esteem in his capitals. I am going out now. I have some few
references to make. Let me recommend this book,--one of the most
remarkable ever penned. It is Winwood Reade's 'Martyrdom of Man.' I
shall be back in an hour."

I sat in the window with the volume in my hand, but my thoughts were
far from t