Horror kept me sitting where I was for a minute or two. Then I took hold of the poker and went downstairs. When I came to this room I saw that the window was wide open. I also noticed immediately that the bust was gone from the mantelpiece. I cannot understand why a burglar should take such a thing. It was only a plaster cast and of no real value at all.

"You can see that anyone who goes out through that open window can reach the front doorstep with a single step. This was clearly what the burglar had done. I went and opened the door. When I opened the door and stepped out into the dark, I nearly fell over a dead man, who was lying there. I ran back and got a light. There the poor fellow was, a great gash in his throat and the whole place covered in blood. He lay on his back, his knees pulled up, and his mouth horribly open.

I shall see him in my dreams. I blew on my police-whistle, and then I must have fainted. I knew nothing more until I found the policeman standing over me in the hall."

"Well, who was the murdered man?" asked Holmes.