“YouwillsaythatIwaspuzzled；but，ifyouthinkso，youmusthavemisunderstoodthenatureoftheinductions。Touseasportingphrase，Ihadnotbeenonce’atfault。’Thescenthadneverforaninstantbeenlost。Therewasnoflawinanylinkofthechain。Ihadtracedthesecrettoitsultimateresult，-andthatresultwas_thenail。_
Ithad，Isay，ineveryrespect，theappearanceofitsfellowintheotherwindow；butthisfactwasanabsolutenullityconclusiveusitmightseemtobewhencomparedwiththeconsiderationthathere，atthispoint，terminatedtheclew。’There_must_besomethingwrong，’I
said，’aboutthenail。’Itouchedit；andthehead，withaboutaquarterofaninchoftheshank，cameoffinmyfingers。Therestoftheshankwasinthegimlet-holewhereithadbeenbrokenoff。Thefracturewasanoldoneforitsedgeswereincrustedwithrust，andhadapparentlybeenaccomplishedbytheblowofahammer，whichhadpartiallyimbedded，inthetopofthebottomsash，theheadportionofthenail。InowcarefullyreplacedthisheadportionintheindentationwhenceIhadtakenit，andtheresemblancetoaperfectnailwascomplete-thefissurewasinvisible。Pressingthespring，I
gentlyraisedthesashforafewinches；theheadwentupwithit，remainingfirminitsbed。Iclosedthewindow，andthesemblanceofthewholenailwasagainperfect。
“Theriddle，sofar，wasnowunriddled。Theassassinhadescapedthroughthewindowwhichlookeduponthebed。Droppingofitsownaccorduponhisexitorperhapspurposelyclosed，ithadbecomefastenedbythespring；anditwastheretentionofthisspringwhichhadbeenmistakenbythepoliceforthatofthenail，-fartherinquirybeingthusconsideredunnecessary。