"
"Well, on the road itself?"
"No; it was all trodden into mire."
"Tut-tut! Well, then, these tracks upon the grass,
were they coming or going?"
"It was impossible to say. There was never any outline."
"A large foot or a small?"
"You could not distinguish."
Holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.
"It has been pouring rain and blowing a hurricane ever since,"
said he. "It will be harder to read now than that palimpsest.
Well, well, it can't be helped. What did you do, Hopkins,
after you had made certain that you had made certain of nothing?"
"I think I made certain of a good deal, Mr. Holmes.
I knew that someone had entered the house cautiously from without.
I next examined the corridor. It is lined with cocoanut matting
and had taken no impression of any kind. This brought me into the
study itself. It is a scantily-furnished room. The main article
is a large writing-table with a fixed bureau. This bureau
consists of a double column of drawers with a central small
cupboard between them. The drawers were open, the cupboard locked.
The drawers, it seems, were always open, and nothing of value was
kept in them.
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