It must be something important which has brought you out in such a gale.""It is indeed, Mr.Holmes.I've had a bustling afternoon, I promise you.Did you see anything of the Yoxley case in the latest editions?""I've seen nothing later than the fifteenth century to-day.""Well, it was only a paragraph, and all wrong at that, so you have not missed anything.I haven't let the grass grow under my feet.It's down in Kent, seven miles from Chatham and three from the railway line.I was wired for at three-fifteen, reached Yoxley Old Place at five, conducted my investigation, was back at Charing Cross by the last train, and straight to you by cab.""Which means, I suppose, that you are not quite clear about your case?""It means that I can make neither head nor tail of it.
So far as I can see it is just as tangled a business as ever Ihandled, and yet at first it seemed so simple that one couldn't go wrong.There's no motive, Mr.Holmes.That's what bothers me -- I can't put my hand on a motive.Here's a man dead --there's no denying that -- but, so far as I can see, no reason on earth why anyone should wish him harm."Holmes lit his cigar and leaned back in his chair.
"Let us hear about it," said he.
"I've got my facts pretty clear," said Stanley Hopkins.
"All I want now is to know what they all mean.The story, so far as I can make it out, is like this.Some years ago this country house, Yoxley Old Place, was taken by an elderly man, who gave the name of Professor Coram.He was an invalid, keeping his bed half the time, and the other half hobbling round the house with a stick or being pushed about the grounds by the gardener in a bath-chair.He was well liked by the few neighbours who called upon him, and he has the reputation down there of being a very learned man.His household used to consist of an elderly housekeeper, Mrs.Marker, and of a maid, Susan Tarlton.