disreputable hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in
several places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair
suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the
purpose of examination.
You are engaged, said I; perhaps I interrupt you.
Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss my
results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one he jerked his thumb in
the direction of the old hat but there are points in connection with
it which are not entirely devoid of interest and even of instruction.
I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his
crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows were
thick with the ice crystals. I suppose, I remarked, that, homely as
it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to it that it is
the clue which will guide you in the solution of some mystery and the
punishment of some crime.
No, no. No crime, said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. Only one of those
whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have four million
human beings all jostling each other within the space of a few square
miles. Amid the action and reaction of so dense a swarm of humanity,
every possible combination of events may be expected to take place, and
many a little problem will be presented which may be striking and
bizarre without being criminal. We have already had experience of
such.
So much so, I remarked, that of the last six cases which I have
added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any legal crime.
Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler papers,
to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the adventure of
the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt that this small
matter will fall into the same innocent category. You know Peterson,
the commissionaire?
Yes.
It is to him that this trophy belongs.
147