"Then how did you get at Mr. Douglas and the fact that he had
been horribly murdered?"

"That was in the inclosed official report. It didn't say
'horrible': that's not a recognized official term. It gave the
name John Douglas. It mentioned that his injuries had been in
the head, from the discharge of a shotgun. It also mentioned the
hour of the alarm, which was close on to midnight last night. It
added that the case was undoubtedly one of murder, but that no
arrest had been made, and that the case was one which presented
some very perplexing and extraordinary features. That's
absolutely all we have at present, Mr. Holmes."

"Then, with your permission, we will leave it at that, Mr. Mac.
The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data
is the bane of our profession. I can see only two things for
certain at present--a great brain in London, and a dead man in
Sussex. It's the chain between that we are going to trace."




Chapter 3 - The Tragedy of Birlstone



Now for a moment I will ask leave to remove my own insignificant
personality and to describe events which occurred before we
arrived upon the scene by the light of knowledge which came to us
afterwards. Only in this way can I make the reader appreciate