One day, a lady came to visit unexpectedly, which made Holmes a little unhappy. I heard him asking the lady: "What? Mrs. Warren, what's wrong with you? I really don't see any special situation.

It makes you so uneasy. I don't know that my time is so precious that I can intervene in this matter. I really have other things to do." After saying that, Holmes turned to look at the scrapbook and cut out the latest information.

So I put it in and made a directory.

But Mrs. Warren is very stubborn and won't give in at all. And she is very smart.

"Mr. Holmes, you seem to have done something for one of my tenants last year, Mr. Federer Hobbes."

"Well, yes, that's a very simple thing."

"He doesn't think so. He often talks about how much you have helped him in front of me, saying that only you, sir, can get to the bottom of a case that has no beginning and no end. When I was thinking about this problem, I had some doubts, and I remembered

His words have come, sir, I know that as long as you are willing to help me, you can definitely do it."

This kind of compliment is very effective for Holmes, especially when he is treated sincerely, he will try his best to help. At this time, these two forces are ready, and Holmes can only sigh in agreement and put down his hands.

glue brush, pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Well, Mrs. Warren, please tell us what happened. You don't mind if I smoke!" Then, turning to me, he said, "Please, Watson, pass me the match." After that, he clicked.

He smoked his pipe and said slowly to Mrs. Warren: "Your problem is that your new tenant stays in the house all day and you can't see him. This is the source of your troubles. It's okay, Mrs. Warren, God will bless you."

Yours. Also, if I were your tenant, I think you wouldn’t be able to see me for 10 days and a half, haha.”

"Yes, sir, but the situation is different now. Mr. Holmes, he scares me and keeps me from sleeping. I hear his footsteps every day from morning to night, but there is no one in sight, sir.

I think my husband and I will go crazy if this continues. Is he hiding something from us? What kind of job does he do? My husband has to go to work, and apart from the little girl, he and I are the only ones left at home every day. I really

I can’t stand it, and if I continue like this, I think I will collapse.”

Holmes stood up and put his hand gently on Mrs. Warren's shoulder. In fact, you don't know that his comforting power is like hypnosis. Soon, Mrs. Warren's fearful eyes and nervous expression slowly calmed down.

He came down and sat down in the chair designated by Holmes.

Holmes said: "Mrs. Warren, if you need my help, then you must tell me every detail. Think about it slowly. In fact, sometimes, the smallest clues are often the key to understanding the truth."

"Oh, okay, sir. He moved in 10 days ago. I told him that I have a small living room and a bedroom on the top floor, fully furnished and equipped. It costs 50 shillings a week, and he paid me half a month's rent.

Rent and food expenses." Mrs. Warren said calmly.

"Then what?"

"He said he could pay me 5 pounds a week, but there was a condition. If I could agree to his condition, I would get a 10-pound note every 15 days. Then he took out a 10-pound note from his wallet.

Pound notes were given to me. Sir, I am a poor man, Mr. Warren does not earn much, and money is a big thing to me."

"What terms does he propose?" asked Holmes.

Well, he just wants a key to the front door. Actually, it doesn't matter. Tenants often ask for keys. It's just that this gentleman wants him to be completely free. We can't disturb him for any reason. Sir, there won't be anything here.

Is this weird? Look, he has moved here for 10 days. My husband, I, and the little girl have never seen him once. We only hear him walking around upstairs from morning to night every day, right after he moved here.

He went out on the first day, but he didn't leave the room for the rest of the days.

"He went out on the first night?"

Yes, it was very late that night and we all had a rest. When he moved in, he told me that he would come back late that night and asked me not to lock the door. In the middle of the night, I heard his voice coming back.

.

"How do you usually deliver food to him?"

He has confessed that he will ring the bell when he needs to eat. When we hear the bell, we will put the food on the chair outside his door. After he has finished eating, we will ring the bell again and we will come to get the tableware. If he has any special needs

Will leave us a note.

"What pen did he write with?"

"It's a pencil, sir, and it's written in lead. I brought a few of them. You see, this one has one word - soap, and the other one says matches." Mrs. Warren took out two slips of paper from her body.

Passed it to Holmes: "And here, this is the "Daily News" he left on the first morning. I put the newspaper and breakfast on the chair every morning."

Holmes looked at the two notes that Mrs. Warren gave him with great shock: "It really feels a little wrong. I can't leave home. I can understand it, but why do you have to write in lead letters? What does it mean? Watson,

What do you think?"

"It means he doesn't want others to recognize his handwriting."

Why couldn't Mrs. Warren see his handwriting? She was just counterattacking. Maybe your guess is not wrong, but why was the notice written so simply?

"It's unimaginable."

"It seems a bit interesting. You see, the writing pen is different from the one we usually use. It is purple in color and has a thick tip. Also, the paper is torn from the top, and a piece of the writing is torn off.

Taken in small part, what does this mean, Watson?"

"Are you cautious?"

"Yes, there must be fingerprints, marks and other things that can provide us with clues to identify who he is? Landlady, apart from the fact that he is of medium build, has dark skin and has a beard, how old does he look like?"

"No more than 30 years old, sir."

"Well, are there any other clues you can give me?"

"His English is very good, but his pronunciation doesn't sound like a local."

"Is he well-dressed?"

"Very well-dressed. He wears black clothes and looks like a gentleman. I don't see anything special about him."

"You don't know his name?"

"I don't know, sir, he didn't tell me."

"No letter was sent to him? No one came to see him?"

"None of them."

"At least one morning, you or that little girl must have been to his room!"

"No, he is taking care of himself."

"That's a little strange. Where is his luggage?"

"He only brought a big brown bag and nothing else."

"Oh, judging from the current situation, there are really few clues that are good for us. Mrs. Warren, you just said that he didn't bring anything out of his room?"

"Ah, yes, these things were put on his plate this morning. I brought them, eh, for you to see." After saying that, Mrs. Warren took out an envelope from her purse and took out two burning sticks from the envelope.

He put the old matches and a cigarette butt on the table and said to us: "Sir, you just said that you can see big problems from small objects. Maybe this will be helpful to your reasoning."

"These don't seem to be anything." Holmes shrugged. "Only a little bit of the matchstick is burned, so it must be used to light cigarettes. However, the cigarette butts are a bit strange. By the way, Mrs. Warren, what do you think of this person?

Sir, does he have a beard?"

"Yes, sir, both on the upper lip and chin."

Then I don't understand. Judging from the shape of this cigarette butt, only people with shaved beards can smoke like this. If you smoke like this, even Watson's little beard will be burnt.

"Maybe he used a cigarette holder!" I said.

"No, look, this cigarette butt is broken. Are there two people living in this room?"

"Definitely not. He eats very little. I'm worried that he will starve to death if he eats this little."

"It seems we need to find some other new clues. Mrs. Warren, you don't have to be dissatisfied. Anyway, you collected the rent. Although he was a little strange, he didn't cause you any trouble, right? And

He pays a lot more rent than you expected. Even if he hides something from you, it doesn't have much to do with you. We have no right to interfere with other people's private affairs unless he commits a crime. Mrs. Warren, please rest assured.

, since this matter has been entrusted to me, I will definitely be responsible for it. Once you get any new information, please tell me. If you need my help, you can come to me." Mrs. Warren felt happy now.

Feeling a little more relaxed, he thanked us and left.

"There are indeed several interesting aspects of this matter, Watson." Holmes said to me after Mrs. Warren left. "Ah, there are so many people in this world, and everyone has different hobbies, but

Some things are very strange. I wonder if the person living in this house now is not the person who originally rented the house."

"Why do you think so?"

"You see, except for cigarette butts, this tenant only went out once after moving into Mrs. Warren's house, and that was the only time. Don't you think it's strange? When he came back that night, no one saw him coming back.

It's him. There is no evidence that the person who came back and the one who went out are the same people. Also, this tenant speaks English very well, but the other one writes "match" instead of "matches". I can infer that this word

I found it from a dictionary. Only dictionaries only give the singular form of nouns, not the plural form. Maybe this person wants to use short words to hide his lack of English. Yes, Watson, we have good reason to suspect that someone

Replaced the original tenant." Holmes said with certainty while analyzing.

"Then what is his purpose for doing this?"

"Maybe the problem lies here, and there is a simple and clear investigation method."

Holmes took down a large book from the bookshelf, which was full of missing person advertisements from various London newspapers that he had collected.

"Oh, look." He said as he turned the pages of the book. It was really a chorus of cries, shouts, nonsense, and a hodgepodge of strange things. It must have provided a precious hunting ground for those lonely and weird scholars. This tenant was all alone.

, writing to him will more or less reveal the secrets contained therein. It is obvious that the news and correspondence are delivered to him through advertisements in newspapers and no other way. Fortunately, it only requires us to pay attention to this newspaper. You

Look, this is what has been in the "Daily News" for the past two weeks, 'The lady in the black feather boa at the Prince Skating Rink Club...' Ignore this paragraph. 'Jimmy will naturally not make his mother sad' - this

It's none of our business. 'If this was the girl who fainted on the bus in Brixton' - I have no interest in her. 'Every day, my heart longs for it' - nonsense, that's it

Nonsense, Watson. Wait a minute, there is another paragraph, I think it is very likely, you listen: 'Be patient, and you will definitely find a reliable and effective method of communication. For now, let's stick to.G.' This is Warren
To be continued...