“But how did he know that the Baron d’Imblevalle had written to you?”

“What do I know about it? You do ask some stupid questions, my boy.”

“I thought ... I supposed——”

“What? That I am a clairvoyant? Or a sorcerer?”

“No, but I have seen you do some marvellous things.”

“No person can perform marvellous things. I no more than you. I reflect, I deduct, I conclude—that is all; but I do not divine. Only fools divine.”

Wilson assumed the attitude of a whipped cur, and resolved not to make a fool of himself by trying to divine why Sholmes paced the room with quick, nervous strides. But when Sholmes rang for the servant and ordered his valise, Wilson thought that he was in possession of a material fact which gave him the right to reflect, deduct and conclude that his associate was about to take a journey. The same mental operation permitted him to assert, with almost mathematical exactness:

“Sholmes, you are going to Paris.”

“Possibly.”

“And Lupin’s affront impels you to go, rather than the desire to assist the Baron d’Imblevalle.”