Brooklyn, for the paper says there was a heavy shower there last
night, while I know no rain fell in New York. I know that they
were out in that rain, for her long skirt became muddy, and in
turn muddied the whole upper of his left shoe. The fact that
only the left shoe is so soiled proves that he walked only at her
right side, showing that she must be deaf in her left ear, or he
would have walked part of the time on that side. I know that
they went to the theatre in New York, because he is still
sleeping at this hour, and has sent his boots down to be cleaned,
instead of coming down with them on his feet to be shined here.
If he had been merely calling on the girl in Brooklyn, he would
have been home early, for they do not sit up late in that
borough. I know they went to the theatre, instead of to the
opera or a ball, for they did not go in a cab, otherwise her
skirt would not have become muddied. This, too, shows that she
wore a cloth skirt, and as his shoes are not patent leathers, it
is clear that neither was in evening dress."

I didn't try to get a verification of Fleming Stone's assertions;
I didn't want any. Scores of times I had known him to make
similar deductions and in cases where we afterward learned the
facts, he was invariably correct. So, though we didn't follow up
this matter, I was sure he was right, and, even if he hadn't
been, it would not have weighed heavily against his large
proportion of proved successes.

We separated then, as we took chairs at some distance from each
other, and, with a sigh of regret that I could never hope to go
far along the line in which Stone showed such proficiency, I
began to read my morning paper.