" The wretched young man arose, and with a last
beseeching glance at us walked from the room. The officers
conducted him to the cab, but Lestrade remained.
Holmes had picked up the pages which formed the rough draft
of the will, and was looking at them with the keenest interest
upon his face.
"There are some points about that document, Lestrade, are there
not?" said he, pushing them over.
The official looked at them with a puzzled expression.
"I can read the first few lines, and these in the middle of
the second page, and one or two at the end. Those are as clear
as print," said he; "but the writing in between is very bad,
and there are three places where I cannot read it at all."
"What do you make of that?" said Holmes.
"Well, what do YOU make of it?"
"That it was written in a train; the good writing represents
stations, the bad writing movement, and the very bad writing
passing over points. A scientific expert would pronounce at
once that this was drawn up on a suburban line, since nowhere
save in the immediate vicinity of a great city could there be so
quick a succession of points. Granting that his whole journey
was occupied in drawing up the will, then the train was an
express, only stopping once between Norwood and London Bridge.
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