As always, I had to ignore my own instincts and do exactly what Holmes asked. "Fire!" cried Holmes, rising to his feet and performing several expressions of surprise in front of the lady. Embarrassed at his recent failure in the Gene Adler affair, Holmes tried his best not to miss any clue dropped by the lady in the chaos of the moment. Noticing her glance at an old, green bench, he leapt with exaggerated heroism onto the bench, secretly hoping that from there he might see something that would point him toward whatever it was that he needed to find, and would thereby save him from looking like a fool. "Watson, my back!" screamed Holmes as the bench, clearly for show and not for such use, broke under his weight and sent him sprawling on the floor. Yet again I would have to administer brandy and boost my friend's ego as another criminal--this time a lady!--proved the detective not as smart as he fancied himself.