I began afresh in a vein of the extremest circumstantiality. With
deliberate malice I loaded a prolix narrative with every triviality that
a fairly retentive memory could rake out of the half-forgotten past. I
cudgelled my brains for irrelevant incidents. I described with the
minutest accuracy things that had not the faintest significance. I drew
a vivid picture of the carriage inside and out; I painted a lifelike
portrait of the horse, even going into particulars of the harness--which
I was surprised to find that I had noticed. I described the furniture of
the dining-room and the cobwebs that had hung from the ceiling; the
auction-ticket on the chest of drawers, the rickety table and the
melancholy chairs. I gave the number per minute of the patient's
respirations and the exact quantity of coffee consumed on each occasion,
with an exhaustive description of the cup from which it was taken; and I
left no personal details unconsidered, from the patient's finger-nails
to the roseate pimples on Mr. Weiss's nose.

But my tactics of studied prolixity were a complete failure. The attempt
to fatigue Thorndyke's brain with superabundant detail was like trying
to surfeit a pelican with whitebait. He consumed it all with calm
enjoyment and asked for more; and when, at last, I did really begin to
think that I had bored him a little, he staggered me by reading over his
notes and starting a brisk cross-examination to elicit fresh facts! And
the most surprising thing of all was that when I had finished I seemed
to know a great deal more about the case than I had ever known before.

"It was a very remarkable affair," he observed, when the
cross-examination was over--leaving me somewhat in the condition of a
cider-apple that has just been removed from a hydraulic press--"a very
suspicious affair with a highly unsatisfactory end. I am not sure that I
entirely agree with your police officer. Nor do I fancy that some of my