The first two that he tried were not
successes; but the third, Mr. Willoughby Smith, a very young man
straight from the University, seems to have been just what his
employer wanted. His work consisted in writing all the morning
to the Professor's dictation, and he usually spent the evening
in hunting up references and passages which bore upon the next
day's work. This Willoughby Smith has nothing against him
either as a boy at Uppingham or as a young man at Cambridge.
I have seen his testimonials, and from the first he was a decent,
quiet, hardworking fellow, with no weak spot in him at all.
And yet this is the lad who has met his death this morning in the
Professor's study under circumstances which can point only to murder."
The wind howled and screamed at the windows. Holmes and I drew
closer to the fire while the young inspector slowly and point
by point developed his singular narrative.
"If you were to search all England," said he, "I don't suppose
you could find a household more self-contained or free from
outside influences. Whole weeks would pass and not one of them
go past the garden gate.
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