It appears that I am wrong--look at this!" He threw me over the note which the commissionaire had brought.

[7] "Why," I cried, as I cast my eye over it, "this is terrible!" "It does seem to be a little out of the common," he remarked, calmly.
"Would you mind reading it to me aloud ?" This is the letter which I read to him---- "MY DEAR MR.

SHERLOCK HOLMES,-- "There has been a bad business during the night at 3, Lauriston Gardens, off the Brixton Road.

Our man on the beat saw a light there about two in the morning, and as the house was an empty one, suspected that something was amiss.

He found the door open, and in the front room, which is bare of furniture, discovered the body of a gentleman, well dressed, and having cards in his pocket bearing the name of 'Enoch J.Drebber, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.' There had been no robbery, nor is there any evidence as to how the man met his death.