> A short while later, Mary was brought into the parlor, a meek and timid looking young woman with a pockmarked face and downcast eyes. I could see at once that

> A short while later, Mary was brought into the parlor, a meek and timid looking young woman with a pockmarked face and downcast eyes. I could see at once that she was terrified, and it was clear to me that she was not the culprit. Having read all the Sherlock Holmes stories, albeit a long time ago, it seems out of character for Holmes to immediately determine innocence in such a subjective manner. He'd more likely have noticed some subtle characteristic of the maid which through a series of deductions would convince him that she had to have been asleep or out of the house at the time the necklace was stolen.