<P> Inspector Lestrade does quite a bit of gloating in this story, for it seems that he is on the right track and Holmes is not . Holmes begins his own investigation into the matter by going to Blackheath, which puzzles Lestrade, who had expected him to go first to Norwood . McFarlane's mother, Holmes finds out, was once engaged to Oldacre years earlier, but then later wanted nothing to do with the man once she found out how cruel he was--he had let a cat loose in a bird sanctuary . Nonetheless, he tells Lestrade that he can see no other explanation for what has happened to Mr. Oldacre than the official one propounded by Lestrade . </P> <P> Upon examining the handwritten notes given McFarlane by Oldacre to be rendered into legally acceptable language, Holmes reckons they were written in a very haphazard fashion, as if the writer didn't really care about what he was writing . The alternation between legible handwriting and incomprehensible squiggles suggests to Holmes that the "will" was written hurriedly on a train, with the legible writing representing stops at stations . It also emerges that Oldacre's financial dealings had been a bit odd . Several cheques for substantial amounts, and for unknown reasons, have recently been made out to a Mr. Cornelius . The discovery by Holmes of Mr. Oldacre's trouser buttons in the fire ashes does nothing to help exonerate McFarlane, but Holmes is convinced that Mr. Oldacre's housekeeper is withholding information . Holmes's powers of observation tell him that the housekeeper's expression suggests this . </P> <P> Lestrade's gloating reaches a peak when a bloody thumbprint is found at Oldacre's house . It matches the accused's thumb exactly . However, it makes Holmes quite sure that something very devious is afoot: Holmes examined that part of the house only a day earlier, and is quite sure that the thumbprint was not there then . Because McFarlane has been in gaol since his arrest at Holmes's Baker Street rooms, he deduces that someone is attempting a deception . </P> <P> Holmes sets up a small fire in one room of the house with a little straw, and tells three of his constables to shout "Fire!". Lestrade and Watson are quite astonished at what happens next: the very much still living Mr. Oldacre emerges from a hidden chamber at the end of a hallway--where Holmes has deduced it must be--and runs to escape the fire . He is immediately seized . </P>

Summary of the adventure of the norwood builder