title: Great Cases of Sherlock Holmes Ornated (The Franklin Library Of Mystery Masterpieces)
author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
description: Great Cases of Sherlock Holmes Ornated (The Franklin Library Of Mystery Masterpieces) [Hardcover] [Jan 01, 1987] Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Mitchell Hooks
zlib_text: ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  
  # The Leather Funnel
  
  
  ### Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  
  
  This page copyright © 2002 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
    
  My friend, Lionel Dacre, lived in the Avenue de Wagram, Paris. His
  
  
  house was that small one, with the iron railings and grass plot in
  
  
  front of it, on the left-hand side as you pass down from the Arc de
  
  
  Triomphe. I fancy that it had been there long before the avenue was
  
  
  constructed, for the grey tiles were stained with lichens, and the
  
  
  walls were mildewed and discoloured with age. It looked a small house
  
  
  from the street, five windows in front, if I remember right, but it
  
  
  deepened into a single long chamber at the back. It was here that
  
  
  Dacre had that singular library of occult literature, and the
  
  
  fantastic curiosities which served as a hobby for himself, and an
  
  
  amusement for his friends. A wealthy man of refined and eccentric
  
  
  tastes, he had spent much of his life and fortune in gathering
  
  
  together what was said