Barnicot came down this morning he was astonished to find that his house had been burgled during the night, but that nothing had been taken save the plaster head from the hall.It had been carried out and had been dashed savagely against the garden wall, under which its splintered fragments were discovered."Holmes rubbed his hands.
"This is certainly very novel," said he.
"I thought it would please you.But I have not got to the end yet.Dr.Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o'clock, and you can imagine his amazement when, on arriving there, he found that the window had been opened in the night, and that the broken pieces of his second bust were strewn all over the room.
It had been smashed to atoms where it stood.In neither case were there any signs which could give us a clue as to the criminal or lunatic who had done the mischief.Now, Mr.Holmes, you have got the facts.""They are singular, not to say grotesque," said Holmes.
"May I ask whether the two busts smashed in Dr.Barnicot's rooms were the exact duplicates of the one which was destroyed in Morse Hudson's shop?""They were taken from the same mould."
"Such a fact must tell against the theory that the man who breaks them is influenced by any general hatred of Napoleon.