“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。

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