Cardboard box (story)

The respectable resident of Croydon (a suburb of London ), the fifty-year-old lady of Miss Susan Cushing, receives an unusual package: a cardboard box with cut off human ears. Inspector Lestrade, who is investigating the incident, believes that this is a joke of medical students who previously lived with Miss Cushing, but Sherlock Holmes suspects that the situation is much more serious.

A visit to Miss Susan confirms Holmes's fears: the box contains a male and female ear cut off with a blunt instrument, and, therefore, it is a serious crime.

In the portrait of Susan Cushing, Holmes sees three Cushing sisters: Susan, Sarah and Mary. Susan reported that Mary was married to Jim Browner, a steward , but she had recently stopped writing Susan.

The visit to the middle sister, Sarah, ends unsuccessfully. She became seriously ill, and the doctor will not let anyone in to her.

After that, Sherlock Holmes informs Lestrade who is probably the culprit. A few days later, Lestrade arrests him: it turns out to be Jim Browner.

Holmes in Susan's ear shape guessed that one of the sent ears belonged to her murdered sister. He also realized that the package was intended for Sarah Cushing, not Susan. From Browner's story, it turned out that Sarah had destroyed his marriage with Mary, which was caused by Sarah's unrequited love for Jim. As a result, Mary began dating Alec Fairburn, whom Jim found together on a cab, unexpectedly returning from a flight.

Jim followed the couple on their way for a jaunt in the boat. He caught up on the second boat and killed both of them, cut off their ears, and then drowned the boat with the corpses. However, as a result, he became afraid to lose his mind (the faces of those killed each time appeared to him in a dream) and did not resist the police during his arrest.