The Adventure of the Cardboard Box by Arthur Conan Doyle Page B

students, whom
she was obliged to get rid of on account of their noisy and irregular
habits. The police are of opinion that this outrage may have been
perpetrated upon Miss Cushing by these youths, who owed her a grudge
and who hoped to frighten her by sending her these relics of the
dissecting-rooms. Some probability is lent to the theory by the fact
that one of these students came from the north of Ireland, and, to the
best of Miss Cushing's belief, from Belfast. In the meantime, the
matter is being actively investigated, Mr. Lestrade, one of the very
smartest of our detective officers, being in charge of the case."
    "So much for the Daily Chronicle," said Holmes as I finished reading.
"Now for our friend Lestrade. I had a note from him this morning, in
which he says:
    "I think that this case is very much in your line. We have every hope
of clearing the matter up, but we find a little difficulty in getting
anything to work upon. We have, of course, wired to the Belfast
post-office, but a large number of parcels were handed in upon that
day, and they have no means of identifying this particular one, or of
remembering the sender. The box is a half-pound box of honeydew
tobacco and does not help us in any way. The medical student theory
still appears to me to be the most feasible, but if you should have a
few hours to spare I should be very happy to see you out here. I shall
be either at the house or in the police-station all day.
    "What say you, Watson? Can you rise superior to the heat and run down
to Croydon with me on the off chance of a case for your annals?"
    "I was longing for something to do."
    "You shall have it then. Ring for our boots and tell them to order a
cab. I'll be back in a moment when I have changed my dressing-gown and
filled my cigar-case."
    A shower of rain fell while we were in the train, and the heat was far
less oppressive in Croydon than in town. Holmes had sent on a wire, so
that Lestrade, as wiry, as dapper, and as ferret-like as ever, was
waiting for us at the station. A walk of five minutes took us to Cross
Street, where Miss Cushing resided.
    It was a very long street of two-story brick houses, neat and prim,
with whitened stone steps and little groups of aproned women gossiping
at the doors. Halfway down, Lestrade stopped and tapped at a door,
which was opened by a small servant girl. Miss Cushing was sitting in
the front room, into which we were ushered. She was a placid-faced
woman, with large, gentle eyes, and grizzled hair curving down over her
temples on each side. A worked antimacassar lay upon her lap and a
basket of coloured silks stood upon a stool beside her.
    "They are in the outhouse, those dreadful things," said she as Lestrade
entered. "I wish that you would take them away altogether."
    "So I shall, Miss Cushing. I only kept them here until my friend, Mr.
Holmes, should have seen them in your presence."
    "Why in my presence, sir?"
    "In case he wished to ask any questions."
    "What is the use of asking me questions when I tell you I know nothing
whatever about it?"
    "Quite so, madam," said Holmes in his soothing way. "I have no doubt
that you have been annoyed more than enough already over this business."
    "Indeed I have, sir. I am a quiet woman and live a retired life. It is
something new for me to see my name in the papers and to find the
police in my house. I won't have those things in here, Mr. Lestrade.
If you wish to see them you must go to the outhouse."
    It was a small shed in the narrow garden which ran behind the house.
Lestrade went in and brought out a yellow cardboard box, with a piece
of brown paper and some string. There was a bench at the end of the
path, and we all sat down while Homes examined one by one, the articles
which Lestrade had handed to him.
    "The string is exceedingly interesting," he remarked, holding it up to
the light and sniffing at it. "What do you make of this string,
Lestrade?"
    "It has been tarred."
    "Precisely. It is a piece of tarred twine. You