The lady complied readily now with his instructions. She composed her hands in her lap and began to recite as Holmes handed the paper to Lestrade and me and pointed out the paragraph in question, which was a financial report on copra imports.

"Holmes!" I cried in sudden enlightenment when she was but half through. "She has a photographic memory!"

The detective smiled benignly upon me, and gave a little nod of his head, as if to take a bow for the performance.

"But what does that show?" asked Lestrade fadingly.

"I have no idea," Holmes admitted cheerfully. "But put it in your bag of facts; it may prove important later."

We prepared to take our leave. Holmes turned back for a last encouraging word to the patient.

"Madam, do not be afraid. There is every hope that with the information we have gained Inspector Lestrade can bring your case to a speedy and happy conclusion. We shall keep in touch."

He was rewarded with the first real smile I had seen on the lady's face. Its wistful quality illuminated and softened a face I had at first found too harsh, bony, and tense to qualify for feminine beauty.

"Thank you," she said. After a silence we left her, eyes turned inward once again, in a pose very like that in which we had first found her.

"A case not without features of interest, Watson," remarked Holmes in the cab as we were driven back to our respective lodgings. "I hope our friend Lestrade is able to do it justice. No doubt I shall hear from him again before it is done. There are some ambiguous points; more than one interpretation is yet admissible." He paused thoughtfully. "Now, the fair sex is your department, as I think I have observed to you before; what did you think of Lestrade's catch?"

"As a woman?" I shrugged. "She was in great mental distress, of course. It is hard to tell."