"The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" from 1910 is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as His Last Bow. Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" ninth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories. Plot summary Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves at Poldhu in Cornwall one spring for the former's health. The holiday ends when the local vicar Mr. Roundhay and his lodger Mortimer Tregennis visit Holmes, asking for his assistance. The night before, Tregennis had gone to visit his three siblings, played whist with them, and then left. The next morning, the housekeeper found the trio still sitting in their places at the table; the brothers, George and Owen, had gone insane, and the sister, Brenda, was dead. The housekeeper fainted upon entering the room; later, the doctor was summoned, returned with Tregennis, and nearly fainted himself. Tregennis went to the vicar, who took him to Sherlock Holmes. When questioned further, Tregennis says that he remembers George looking through the window, and then he himself turned, and noticed some "movement" outside. Furthermore, Tregennis was once estranged from his siblings because of a money-related quarrel; however, he insists the quarrel was made up. Holmes goes to the house in question and, apparently carelessly, kicks over a watering pot, soaking everyone's feet. The housekeeper tells Holmes that she heard nothing in the night, and that the family had been particularly happy and prosperous lately. Holmes also observes the remains of a fire in the fireplace. Having obtained Mortimer's footprint in the watering pot incident, Holmes confirms his story about leaving immediately to fetch the vicar. However, there are no signs of any intruder; the flowerbed beneath the window, where Tregennis claimed to see something moving, is undisturbed. Holmes believes there is no supernatural influence, but admits there are no real clues to suggest how a natural being could frighten three people into insanity or death. While Holmes is still pondering the problem, Dr. Leon Sterndale, a famous hunter-explorer and a cousin of the Tregennises, aborts his sailing from Plymouth after the vicar wires him with the tragic news. He asks Holmes what his suspicions are, and is displeased when Holmes will not voice them. After Sterndale leaves, Holmes follows him discreetly, returning later that evening. The next morning, the