The wrappers unroll to a degree
that varies perceptibly as between the different hotels. The Metropole
cigar can be smoked a quarter through before its wrapper gives way; the
Grand wrapper goes as soon as you light the cigar; whereas the Savoy,
fronting on the Thames, is surrounded by a moister atmosphere than the
others, and, as a consequence, the wrapper will hold really until most
people are willing to throw the whole thing away."
"It is really a wonderful art!" said Solomon.
"The making of a Connecticut Havana cigar?" laughed Holmes. "Not at all.
Give me a head of lettuce and a straw, and I'll make you a box."
"I referred to your art--that of detection," said Solomon. "Your logic is
perfect; step by step we have been led to the irresistible conclusion that
Kidd has made for London, and can be found at one of these hotels."
"And only until next Tuesday, when he will take a house in the
neighborhood of Scotland Yard," put in Holmes, quickly, observing a sneer
on Hawkshaw's lips, and hastening to overwhelm him by further evidence of
his ingenuity. "When he gets his bill he will open his piratical eyes so
wide that he will be seized with jealousy to think of how much more
refined his profession has become since he left it, and out of mere pique
he will leave the hotel, and, to show himself still cleverer than his
modern prototypes, he will leave his account unpaid, with the result that
the affair will be put in the hands of the police, under which
circumstances a house in the immediate vicinity of the famous police
headquarters will be the safest hiding-place he can find, as was instanced
by the remarkable case of the famous Penstock bond robbery.
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