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silence.
    "Here's
something that might be of interest, Holmes.
A complete coverage of Charles Trelawney's testimony before the coroner's court of in quiry."
    "I've
already read another account, but let us see what
your paper has to offer."
    As
Holmes pored over the newspaper I handed him, it was pleasant to lean
back for a moment to relax. Darkness had
long since fallen. The train was steaming
through the Stroud Valley and approach ing
the Severn River when my head jerked upward with
a start and I realized that I'd dozed off. Holmes
was gazing out the window at the passing darkness. There was little
to see outside the speed ing train
and what there was Holmes was not conscious
of. His eyes had that deep, introspective look
that signified that his mercurial brain was flitting
over pieces of the puzzle and fitting them into
a mosaic of the mind.
    Sensing
my awakening, the master sleuth turned toward
me with a slow smile. "Some sleep may prove
of future benefit," he said. "We could very well
have busy times ahead of us."
    I
indicated the newspapers scattered around the compartment. "Has
anything suggested itself to you?"
    "At
the moment I'm suffering from a plethora of surmise,
conjecture, and hypothesis. Let us see what
we have been able to discover up to this time."
    Holmes
leaned back in his seat, gazing at the ceiling, and his words
wandered over the facts at our disposal.
    "Ezariah
Trelawney was a widower who lived with his adopted son, Charles.
There had been indications of a recent strain in their relations, a point which the coroner's inquest did
not pursue to any appreciable depth. It
was the banker's habit to sit before the
fire in his study of an evening, reading the works of Thackeray.
Death was definitely estab lished as
occurring between the hours of eight and ten.
Constable Bennett evidently was able to secure a forensic medicine
expert promptly. The body was discovered
at eleven in the evening by Charles Trelawney,
who stated that he had just returned from
Hereford, where he had been on business. According
to his testimony, his adopted father was seated
in his customary chair, his head slumped forward
from the fatal blow. The windows of the room
were closed. The door leading into the room was
closed but not locked. Now, Charles Trelawney contends
that he had just arrived on the ten forty- five
from Hereford. However, in counter-testimony, the
stationmaster at Shaw states that he definitely saw
him arrive previously on the six o'clock spe cial.
It was the testimony of the stationmaster and some
other evidence that resulted in Charles Trelawney's
receiving a verdict of suspicion of murder at the inquest. Pending
further investigation, the case is to go before the magistrates
in Hereford."
    "What
other evidence do you refer to, Holmes?"
    "Possibly,
the papers you read stated there were two occupants in the Trelawney
household. The cook and maid were not in
residence and left, as was their custom,
at seven. However, one of the papers, the Ross
Inquirer , I believe, was more complete and
noted the presence of a third occu pant."
    I
registered amazement. "How could this fact go unrecorded
elsewhere?"
    "Ezariah
Trelawney had a dog, Lama by name. The animal and the banker were
inseparable. The old gentleman even took
him to his bank office with him. Now I
understand Constable Bennett's ref erence
to the Silver Blaze affair."
    "Of
course," I said, with a flood of understanding. "The
dog that didn't bark in the night."
    "Dear
me, Watson, that was but a trivial example of
observation and inference. By the time you finished making our
racehorse adventure public, you had it sounding like a veritable
triumph of deductive reasoning."
    This
mild chastisement bothered me not at all. Holmes
consistently contended that I tended to over-dramatize
his superb reasoning powers. How ever,
I knew that he secretly was delighted at having
his m é tier appreciated and applauded.
    "May
I remind you, my dear Holmes, that no one else
drew