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In this short story, Holmes is visited by a perturbed proper English gentleman, John Scott Eccles, who wishes to discuss something "grotesque."

No sooner has he arrived at 221B Baker Street than Inspector Gregson also shows up, along with Inspector Baynes of the Surrey Constabulary. They wish a statement from Eccles about the murder near Esher last night. A note in the dead man's pocket indicates that Eccles said that he would be at the victim's house that night.

Eccles is shocked to hear of Aloysius Garcia's beating death. Yes, he spent the night at Wisteria Lodge, Garcia's rented house, but when he woke up in the morning, he found that Garcia and his servants had all disappeared.

He was alone in an empty house. He last remembers seeing Garcia at about one o'clock in the morning when he came to Eccles's room to ask if he had rung.

Eccles met Garcia, a Spaniard, through an acquaintance, and seemed to form an unlikely friendship right away. Garcia invited Eccles to stay at his house for a few days, but when Eccles got there, he could tell that something was amiss. Garcia seemed distracted by something, and the whole mood of the visit seemed quite sombre. Indeed, Garcia's mood became even darker once his servant handed him a note that evening.

Eccles left Wisteria Lodge and inquired about the place at the estate agent's, and was surprised to find that the rent on the house had been paid in full. Odder still, no-one at the Spanish Embassy in London had heard of Garcia.

Inspector Baynes produces the note that Eccles saw Garcia receive. It reads "Our own colours, green and white. Green open, white shut. Main stair, first corridor, seventh right, green baize. Godspeed. D.," in a woman's handwriting. Could it have been a tryst? Could a jealous husband be behind Garcia's death?

It emerges that Baynes has deduced that Garcia's body had been lying out in the open since one o'clock, but Eccles says that this is impossible, as Garcia came to his room about then.

Holmes theorizes that Garcia may have tampered with the clocks to get Eccles to bed earlier than he thought it was, and that the whole business of coming to his room and making a point of mentioning that it was one o'clock - when it was probably much earlier - was likely aimed at setting up an alibi, but for what?

Another of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's marvelous mystery stories.At the outset, the plot seems to be quite complex but as it unravels through Holmes's intelligent scheme of deduction by gaining evidence, things fall into place, making it an ecellent plot.

NOTE: Out of the entire collection of Holmes stories by Doyle, this is the only story in which a police inspector (specifically, Inspector Baynes) is as competent as Holmes. Holmes has nothing but praise for Inspector Baynes, believing that he will rise high in his profession, for he has instinct and intuition.

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About the Author:

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(22 May 1859 - 7 July 1930) was an Irish-Scots writer and physician, most noted for creating the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and writing stories about him which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction.

He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger, and for popularising the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.

Supported by wealthy uncles, Doyle was sent to the Jesuit preparatory school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst, at the age of nine (1868-70). He then went on to Stonyhurst College until 1875. From 1875 to 1876, he was educated at the Jesuit school Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria.

From 1876 to 1881 he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, including periods working in Aston (then a town in Warwickshire, now part of Birmingham), Sheffield and Ruyton-XI-Towns, Shropshire.

Doyle struggled to find a publisher for his work. His first work featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, A Study in Scarlet, was taken by Ward Lock & Co on 20 November 1886, giving Doyle £25 (£2500 today) for all rights to the story. The piece appeared one year later in the Beeton's Christmas Annual and received good reviews in The Scotsman and the Glasgow Herald.

While living in Southsea, Doyle played football as a goalkeeper for Portsmouth Association Football Club, an amateur side, under the pseudonym A. C. Smith.