It was not until we had consumed some hot tea at the
station, and taken our places in the Kentish train, that we were
sufficiently thawed, he to speak and I to listen. Holmes drew a
note from his pocket and read it aloud:--
"Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent,
"3.30 a.m.
"MY DEAR MR. HOLMES, --- I should be very glad of your immediate
assistance in what promises to be a most remarkable case.
It is something quite in your line. Except for releasing the lady
I will see that everything is kept exactly as I have found it,
but I beg you not to lose an instant, as it is difficult to leave
Sir Eustace there.
"Yours faithfully, STANLEY HOPKINS."
"Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion
his summons has been entirely justified," said Holmes.
"I fancy that every one of his cases has found its way into your
collection, and I must admit, Watson, that you have some power
of selection which atones for much which I deplore in your
narratives. Your fatal habit of looking at everything from the
point of view of a story instead of as a scientific exercise has
ruined what might have been an instructive and even classical
series of demonstrations.
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