"The second case, however, was more serious, and even stranger. It happened just last night. A few hundred yards away from Morse Hudson's shop in Kennington Road, there lives a well-known medical practitioner, named Dr. Barnicot. He has one of the largest practices on the south side of the river Thames. His home and main consulting-room is at Kennington Road, but he has another office and dispensary two miles away on Lower Brixton Road.

This Dr. Barnicot is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and his house is full of books, pictures, and relics of the French Emperor. A little while ago Dr Barnicot purchased from Morse Hudson two duplicate plaster heads of Napoleon by the famous French sculptor, Devine. One of these heads was in the hall in the house at Kennington Road, and the other on the mantelpiece of the office in Lower Brixton.

Well, when Dr. Barnicot came down this morning he was astonished to find that his house had been burgled during the night. Nothing had been taken except the plaster head from the hall. This had been carried outside and had been smashed against the garden wall. That's where the fragments were found."

Holmes rubbed his hands. "This is certainly very novel," he said.