"It was all very confused. Sir Charles had evidently stood there
for five or ten minutes."

"How do you know that?"

"Because the ash had twice dropped from his cigar."

"Excellent! This is a colleague, Watson, after our own heart.
But the marks?"

"He had left his own marks all over that small patch of gravel.
I could discern no others."

Sherlock Holmes struck his hand against his knee with an
impatient gesture.

"If I had only been there!" he cried. "It is evidently a case of
extraordinary interest, and one which presented immense opportunities
to the scientific expert. That gravel page upon which I might have
read so much has been long ere this smudged by the rain and defaced
by the clogs of curious peasants. Oh, Dr. Mortimer, Dr. Mortimer,
to think that you should not have called me in! You have indeed
much to answer for."

"I could not call you in, Mr. Holmes, without disclosing these
facts to the world, and I have already given my reasons for not
wishing to do so. Besides, besides--"

"Why do you hesitate?"