Like a tiger Holmes leapt on to his back. An instant later Lestrade and I held him by either wrist, and the handcuffs had been fastened on him. As we turned him over I saw a hideous, sallow face, with writhing, furious features, glaring up at us. I knew at once that we had indeed arrested the man we had seen in the photograph. But it was not our prisoner to whom Holmes was giving his attention. Squatting on the doorstep, he was very carefully examining the thing that the man had brought from the house.

It was a bust of Napoleon. It was like the one which we had seen that morning, and like that one, it had been smashed to pieces. Carefully, Holmes held each separate fragment to the light. But each broken piece of plaster looked very much the same as the others. He had just completed his examination when the hall lights went on in the house. The door opened, and the owner, a jovial, rotund person wearing a shirt and trousers appeared.

'Mr. Josiah Brown, I suppose?' said Holmes.

'Yes, sir and you, no doubt, are Mr. Sherlock Holmes? I received the note which you sent by express messenger. I did exactly what you told me. We locked every door on the inside and,waited to see what happened. Well, I'm very glad to see that you have got the criminal. I hope, gentlemen, that you will come in and have some refreshment.'