"
"You have got your men?"
"Man, Watson, man. Only one, but a very formidable person.
Strong as a lion -- witness the blow that bent that poker.
Six foot three in height, active as a squirrel, dexterous
with his fingers; finally, remarkably quick-witted, for this
whole ingenious story is of his concoction. Yes, Watson,
we have come upon the handiwork of a very remarkable individual.
And yet in that bell-rope he has given us a clue which should
not have left us a doubt."
"Where was the clue?"
"Well, if you were to pull down a bell-rope, Watson, where would
you expect it to break? Surely at the spot where it is attached
to the wire. Why should it break three inches from the top as
this one has done?"
"Because it is frayed there?"
"Exactly. This end, which we can examine, is frayed. He was
cunning enough to do that with his knife. But the other end is
not frayed. You could not observe that from here, but if you
were on the mantelpiece you would see that it is cut clean off
without any mark of fraying whatever. You can reconstruct what
occurred. The man needed the rope. He would not tear it down
for fear of giving the alarm by ringing the bell.
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